Qualified domestic relations order

What it means

A divorce decree alone does not move money in a workplace retirement plan. The plan needs a separate order that meets federal requirements, and the plan administrator approves it.

It can also secure a former spouse's survivor benefit, which is otherwise lost.

Individual retirement accounts are handled differently and generally do not need one.

Why it matters

A qualified order that was ordered but never drafted, or drafted and never approved, is one of a frequent financial failures after a divorce, and it usually surfaces at the moment of retirement or death.

It is also why a beneficiary designation review after a divorce is not enough on its own.

When you are likely to meet it

• When a divorce involves a pension or a workplace retirement plan.
• When a former spouse claims a share of a retirement benefit after a death.
• When a plan administrator refuses to act on a divorce decree.

Related terms

• Beneficiary designationA named person on an account or policy who receives it directly on death, without it passing through the will or probate.
• ERISAThe federal law governing most employer retirement and benefit plans. It is the reason a plan's own beneficiary form usually beats a will or a state law.
• Inherited IRAA retirement account received from somebody who died, held under rules that differ from an account you opened yourself.
• Pension Benefit Guaranty CorporationThe federal agency that pays pensions when the employer's plan has failed — and holds pensions nobody claimed.
• Required minimum distributionThe amount that has to be taken out of a retirement account each year once the rules require withdrawals to begin.
• Survivor annuityA continuing pension payment to a surviving spouse, if that option was chosen when the pension started.

Official sources

The authority this page describes, at the agency that publishes it. Sahvelo does not restate a rule from a secondary source.

• Department of Labor — Employee Benefits Security Administration (opens in a new tab)

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Retirement accounts
• Pensions