Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts
401K awarded through divorce
I was awarded 50 percent of my ex-husband's 401K in our separation agreement. How long does it take to get my portion transferred over to me? We were granted a divorce on 2/11/09, and it became final on 5/13/09, and I'm worried that my ex-husband will try to cheat me out of it, since he's already asking me if he can use it to pay off his bills, and when I ask him when I will receive info about it, he totally ignores me.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: 401K awarded through divorce
You should get to work on it yourself. If you don't have an attorney, get one. It's your asset -- move on it -now-.
An attorney should look at two fronts: 1. dealing with the Plan Administrator; and 2. Filing a contempt action to keep things in play if there is ANY concern that the Plan Administrator doesn't respect the Court's judgment.
Re: 401K awarded through divorce
It is you or your attorney's responsibility to execute a QDRO to get 1/2 of your ex's 401(k).
He can't simply withdraw 1/2 of it and give it to you because the account will be taxed and penalized for early withdrawal. You need to do a custodian to custodian transfer through a QDRO.
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