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QDROs, part 2: an effective court-ordered financial tool

On Behalf of | Feb 27, 2014 | Child Support

Immediately following is a depiction of post-divorce life in a few short words that is far from a hypothetical for many ex-spouses in Florida and across the country.

It goes like this: Your former spouse agreed to pay certain things like child support and spousal maintenance, but now you’re getting just a fraction — or nothing at all — of what was agreed to in court.

What can you do?

Well, you can always go back to court and seek to have a judge order your ex to pay. That might be successful. Then again, and with some former partners, it can just lead to the next round of frustration

You might want to try a QDRO. We imparted some introductory information on that court-ordered tool in our immediately preceding blog post. Following below is a bit more detail.

A judge can use a QDRO to automatically bypass a troublesome ex-partner and have monies owed taken directly from his (and sometimes her) company-sponsored retirement accounts. A QDRO order can apply to both past-due obligations and future payments.

It might useful for many readers to think about QDROS as liens: If your ex-spouse timely pays what is owed for various support obligations, all is well; if he doesn’t, the money can be siphoned directly from a pension plan, 401(k) or other company-sponsored savings vehicle.

One attorney well versed with QDROs notes that “it’s best to take care of the QDRO requirements during the divorce or simultaneously with the divorce judgment.”

That makes sense, given that it takes some time and investigatory work to get the process started.

A proven family law attorney experienced with QDRO requirements can work directly with a client on payment-related issues or make a prompt referral to a professional who can offer assistance.

Source: Forbes, “How to get your ex-husband to honor the financial terms of your divorce settlement,” Jeff Landers, Feb. 19, 2014

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