About the Initiative
Every year, the Pension Rights Center hears from thousands of people who have questions about their retirement benefits. One of five of these callers asks about dividing benefits at divorce. A majority of individuals who reach out to us for this type of help are older women going through divorce. But this issue affects all spouses going through divorce, regardless of their age.
The fact is, retirement benefits – both 401(k)-type benefits and pension benefits – are considered, in most states, to be martial property earned during the marriage that can be divided upon divorce.
Don’t leave these benefits on the table. Retirement benefits may be the most valuable financial assets in a marriage and knowing how to secure a share of these benefits may be critical to your financial future.
The Pension Rights Center launched the Initiative on Women and Retirement at Divorce to ensure that people going through a divorce know the basics of how to get a share of their spouse’s retirement benefits (such as 401(k)-type plans and pension benefits), to address obstacles they may face, and to help make the process easier for everyone. The Initiative is a common ground project that has brought together a diverse array of stakeholders – retiree organizations, women’s groups, pension plans, employers, financial institutions, family attorneys, and judges – to work together to tackle this issue.
The Initiative has two main goals: (1) Create and disseminate materials to increase public awareness about the importance of dividing benefits at divorce and to educate spouses about the information they need to know to protect themselves, including obtaining a special legal document called a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) and (2) to engage and train legal services attorneys and other professionals about drafting QDROS, the key legal document needed under federal law to divide private pensions and 401(k)s.
Note the information here only applies to the division of retirement benefits under private sector retirement plans (through companies that offer them). If your spouse earned benefits under federal, state, or local government plans, there will be other (though similar procedures) you would need to follow.
