Timothy Sumer

Tutorial video in a series of DIY divorce videos that explains how to draft a QDRO to slit a 401(k) or pension during a divorce. A QDRO is a special type of court order that is essentially a set of instructions telling a retirement plan administrator how to divide a particular retirement asset such as a 401(k) or a pension. One option is to hire an expert to draft the QDRO. The experts that are in the business of drafting QDROs are typically accountants or actuaries, although some are lawyers. You can Google “QDRO drafting” and find an expert to draft a QDRO for you. You can expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 to $600 per QDRO. Another approach is to draft your own QDRO using a model and instructions provided by the retirement plan administrator or custodian. Not all retirement plan administrators provide model QDROs and instructions, but many of them do. Call the administrator for each of your retirement plans and ask if they can mail or email