Retirement Account

One of the more complicated aspects of a divorce is dividing retirement accounts and pensions. How do you value retirement accounts? How do you divide retirement accounts? There are many different types of retirement accounts and many different corollary rules with regard to valuations and division of these accounts.

The first important thing to understand is that these accounts (earned during the marriage) are typically marital property and therefore subject to division even though they are in the name of only one party. The “marital” portion of these accounts will be divided by a court unless offset by other assets in the division. This division can also be done by agreement; however, you will be required in most cases to obtain a Qualified Domestic Relations Order from the Court in order to effectuate a division of an employment based retirement account. These orders require consultation with the account managers in the drafting and often need pre-approval to ensure they will be honored.

Unlike other property, when you are dividing a retirement account the Court must essentially order the account managers to divide the funds, and this is the only way the non-owning spouse will ever receive their share of the account.

Do You Need a Raleigh-based Family Law & Divorce Attorney Who Specializes in the Distribution of Retirement Accounts?

Call our Knightdale or Raleigh office today at 1.888.600.8834 or fill our our contact form for more information and one of our divorce lawyers will contact you shortly.