Divorce

It seems that in order for you to get payments out of your ex husband’s pension, a QDRO must  be filed with the administrator of the benefits. A QDRO is a qualified domestic relations order. That is the legal document, issued by a state court, that meets certain federal requirements, that will allow the benefits to be paid for you. The QDRO can be the divorce decree, not necessarily a separate document, as long as it meets all of the requirements for a QDRO. The benefits administrator at your husband’s pension plan is the one to, at least at first, decide whether the divorce decree counts as a valid QDRO. Therefore, sending the divorce decree to the pension company seems like the first step to take, because they will know who is the administrator under the pension plan. You may want to follow up with them and have them tell you who the administrator is. It looks like it may be the pension company, or the employer. Then you could follow up with that person to make sure that they make a decision about whether the divorce decree is a proper QDRO. If it does not, you may have to get another decree from the court, for which you may want to seek the help of a lawyer that specializes in this area.

The US government has a helpful FAQ page about QDROs here: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/publications/qdros.html.

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