Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

Re: qudro

The acronym QDRO stands for Qualified Domestic Relations Order. It is a separate order from your divorce decree and it directs a third pary (the person holding your retirement money) to divide the retirement. It tells them how to divide it (50/50 does not always mean 50/50 in the strictest of terms). And, it tells them how to pay the money to the other person. The 3rd party will have a set of rules about how the order should look and you must follow their terms closely. Because this is a court order directing someone to do something with YOUR money you should make sure you have the order drafted properly and correctly. (After all, while I might appreciate it if you made a mistake and accidently sent all your retirement money to me - chances are you probably wouldn't appreciate it all).

Drafting QDROs is something that private practice attorneys do frequently. You did not mention if you had an attorney during your divorce; I would expect that the attorney would have told you all of this and then told you who to hire to do it if the attroney did not do it him or herself.

I would recommend that you speak to an attorney about this. There are many points of negotiation that can take place in dealing with retirement money. There are also issues about deferred compensation, taxes and other financial concerns that they attorney can talk to you about on this topic. Having someone with legal knowledge who is on your side of those negotiations may make it worth your while.

Good luck.

Law Guru