As you work your way through your Texas divorce, you may sometimes feel as though you are learning to speak in a different language. While this is not entirely true, it is easy to understand how many people may feel that way because the divorce process does have its own language of sorts. The language of divorce includes all of the general legal terms that are not often used outside of a legal context, legal words that are unique to the practice of divorce law and many other words from a diverse collection of topics including psychology and finance.

One of the words that you may hear during your Texas divorce is QDRO, which is often pronounced “qua-dro”, but is sometimes pronounced “q-dro” or “Q.D.R.O.”. Whichever way you say it, the term refers to a document called a Qualified Domestic Relations Order. The name of the document only goes so far in telling you want the document does, though. Because it is an Order, you can know that it is a document that is issued by the court. Since it is a Domestic Relations Order, that tells you that it is an Order related to a family law proceeding. Simply stated, a QDRO is an Order which is issued by the family court after a divorce proceeding for the purpose of dividing an employer-sponsored retirement account between spouses.

While the purpose of a QDRO is fairly simple, QDROs themselves can be complex. In order for a QDRO to fulfill its purpose, that is, to effectuate a division of all or part of an employee-sponsored retirement account between parties who have divorced, it must accomplish several things simultaneously. First, a QDRO must be appropriate for the type of retirement account that it seeks to divide. Retirement plans like 401ks and pensions have rules regarding QDROs, and if a QDRO is issued which does not comply with a plan’s rules, the plan administrator cannot make any distributions to any alternate payees, such as the non-employee former spouse. Also, a QDRO must comply with the divorce decree that has been issued by the court. For example, if the entire amount of money that was in one spouse’s 401k was determined by the court to be community property and the divorce decree specified that the 401k was to be split evenly between the divorced parties, the QDRO must also state that fifty percent of the 401k is to be attributed to the employee and fifty percent is to be attributed to their former spouse.

To make matters slightly more complicated, your QDRO may need to account for the fact that you or your spouse had been contributing to the retirement account before the marriage, in which case a portion of the account may not be community property. It is also possible that the division of the 401k may be something other than a fifty – fifty split because of the way that you and your soon to be former spouse choose to divide up all of your other assets. QDROS can address both of the above issues, as well as any others that are unique to your situation.

As with every other aspect of your divorce, the task of preparing your QDRO deserves the skill and attention of an experienced Texas Family Law Attorney. If you have a question about QDROs or any other aspect of your Texas divorce, please call Attorney Alex Tyra today, at (903) 753-7499.