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At the time of divorce or dissolution of marriage, plan benefits may be divided between the participant or member and that person’s spouse. In order to effectuate a division of the pension benefits in the state of Pennsylvania, a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO or DRO) must be prepared and submitted to the Plan Administrator. The Orders generated by our online service are specific to each System or Plan.
(all QDROs are $299)
Consists of Two Retirement Plans:
Consists of One Retirement Plan:
The system administers over 900 Municipal pension plans for a city, borough, town, township, county, institution district, any newly-created governmental unit, an authority, an institution supported and maintained by a municipality or municipal government association, or an industrial government association which has adopted bylaws and the governing body of which is organized and holds regular public meetings.
Pensions acquired between marriage and separation are usually considered to be marital property. Only the percentage of the pension actually acquired during the marriage is marital property. Some disability pensions, even if acquired during the marriage, may be non-marital property.
In Pennsylvania vested pensions are marital property. A pension vests when all the requirements to receive the pension have been met. Unvested pensions are also marital property. Until the pension has vested, the person under whom the pension is maintained has only an expectancy of interest in the pension.
Several different methods of valuation are used in determining how much a marital asset is worth, depending upon the asset to be valued and the level of agreement between the parties. Courts generally accept the value when the spouses mutually agree on a value of a particular asset. Experts may be retained by the parties or by the courts to determine the value of marital assets if the parties cannot agree. Such experts may include accountants, real estate or business appraisers, or pension valuators. The use of experts adds to the cost of the divorce.
In Pennsylvania the court may include the retirement benefits and plans earned by both spouses as marital assets available for division. Retirement benefits vary greatly but can generally be divided into two groups:
In Pennsylvania if spouses share in each other’s retirement or pension plan, a Qualified Domestic Relations Order must be completed. A QDRO is a written set of instructions that explains to a plan administrator that two parties are dividing pension benefits. The instructions set forth the terms and conditions of the distribution - how much of the benefits are to be paid to each party, when such benefits can be paid, how such benefits should be paid, etc.
