Читать книгу Rightfully Yours - Gary A. Shulman - Страница 45

Once a QDRO is prepared, it should be sent to the plan administrator for review and approval. In most cases, the plan administrator is the company itself. Your best bet is to send the QDRO to the attention of the human resources or legal department at the company where your ex-husband works (or worked). Not surprisingly, many plan administrators adopt a paternalistic attitude toward their employees, which may engender a combative attitude on the part of attorneys representing nonparticipant spouses. In seminars conducted for plan administrators, I have heard countless statements like “That might hurt our employee, if we give her that much of his pension” or “That doesn’t seem fair to our worker.”

Suggestions that plan administrators should avoid taking sides in domestic relations cases are frequently met with quizzical looks. This attitude can cause significant problems during the discovery process or when preparing a QDRO to secure the property rights of the alternate payee. The legal term discovery means the process of obtaining information from the plan administrator regarding your ex-husband’s pension benefits. In other words, your attorney tries to discover all the pertinent information that will help him or her place a value on your ex-husband’s pension or savings plan benefits.