Usually, QDROs can be drafted and circulated to the parties within 1-2 weeks of our office receiving all of the necessary information. It can take longer if you are also hiring Strasen Law to perform tracing calculations, or if only part of the information needed is submitted to our office.
Full execution (transfer of assets) generally takes between 3-7 months. We have completed cases as quickly as eight weeks. Contention between the parties has caused rare cases to remain open for several years.
Here are the steps generally necessary to complete a QDRO:
All information is gathered from clients (names, addresses, dates of birth, SSNs, date of marriage & separation, statements, copies of divorce settlement or relevant court orders, etc.)
QDRO is drafted and circulated to attorneys and/or clients for them to review. Resolution is reached on a single draft that all parties approve.
Agreed-upon draft QDRO is sent to the company's plan administration for a pre-approval
Plan administrator reviews QDRO. Revisions required by plan, if any, are made. QDRO is circulated to parties for signature.
Fully signed QDRO is sent to court clerk by our office for filing & endorsement
QDRO is returned to our office by the court clerk. We send the court endorsed QDRO to the plan administrator for execution, and provide all parties with copies for their records.
Plan administrator receives QDRO as final court order, and executes QDRO within 30-60 days. This is when they will mail out final paperwork and transfer funds (if applicable)
Once our office confirms that the QDRO has been executed, we close our file and issue a refund of any remaining retainer funds. Files are kept in storage for seven years or until earliest retirement age of the participant (if longer).
Please see our About QDROs section for an explanation of terms used in this list and more on QDROs in general.
Please see our Terms & Conditions for the limitations on relying on this information.