It might seem odd that our website promotes the fact that we don’t sell financial products to our clients. To those unfamiliar with the industry, many QDRO preparers sell financial products to clients. The problems with these firms are two-fold:

First, selling financial products unquestionably compromises the integrity of a QDRO drafter. They may encourage you to take a lump sum distribution from a 401(k) in order to reinvest the assets through their firm. They may encourage forgoing certain survivorship interests in favor of life insurance schemes. I am a member of a small but very skilled group (maybe “elite” is the proper term) of QDRO drafters that has been in existence almost a decade. It includes many of the best in the country and none of them sell financial products. Period.

Second, those who sell financial products are not attorneys and they certainly aren’t organized as a law firm. Attorneys practice law. Among other things, they are trained to draft legal documents. QDROs are legal documents. I won’t waste too much time pitching my own profession, the training required, the bar association requirements, the discipline process but these are all things to consider. Also, it is unlawful for non-attorneys and ordinary Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) to practice law. While this line is somewhat blurred at times, non-attorneys cannot provide legal advice to divorcing parties. No exceptions. If you are a divorcing party hiring a non-attorney, not only are you likely to receive poor advice but the person delivering the advice is breaking the law (the unauthorized practice of law or “UPL”). One process that has developed to avoid UPL is using a divorce attorneys act as a conduit between the non-attorney QDRO drafter and the divorcing party. Therefore, the attorney is the one “on the hook” for malpractice and responsible for insuring that sound legal advice is delivered to the divorcing party. This is somewhat like the telephone game and complicated matters tend to get muddied by the time they reach the divorcing party.

Bottom Line:

QDRO Professionals is a law firm. We offer independent, objective advice and counsel.

Click to Follow

QDRO Professionals in now on Twitter — @QDROPRO.

QDRO Professionals is a law firm that exclusively prepares QDROs and other DROs for divorcing couples to share retirement assets. Although most of clients are referred to us by divorce attorneys, we can directly service clients who are not represented by attorneys. Our main website is located at WWW.QDRO.PRO.

I just updated our article on the use of QDRO Forms (Plan Models) and Online QDRO Preparation. You can read about the dangers by clicking here: http://bit.ly/9iu2yX

Click to Read About the Dangers of Using QDRO Forms

It is vitally important to hire an expert to review a QDRO (or EDRO) prepared by the other side (or even one prepared by a jointly-retained QDRO preparer). Virtually all QDROs we have reviewed prepared by other QDRO experts or divorce attorneys contain at least one significant error. When I say a “significant error,” I don’t mean a simple misspelling or typo; I mean something that would result in someone not receiving his or her entire award. Sometimes its an overlooked COLA, the destruction of a potential reversion, a misstatement of the coverture language, denying an alternate payee the right to draw early or a more nuanced bias that favors one party over another. In many cases, these errors cannot be corrected later if the QDRO is signed by you or your client and entered with the court. In the cases where corrections can be made by amendment, it is significantly more expensive to do so than entering an error-free QDRO the first time. Family law attorneys should note that having a QDRO attorney conduct a review may discourage malpractice actions or shift liability away from themselves.

Some people think a plan’s pre-approval of a QDRO affords them some comfort.  A plan’s pre-approval of a QDRO simply means that the plan believes the QDRO complies with the law (ERISA and the IRC) and the plan’s QDRO policies. It does not mean the QDRO is compliant with the judgement, the QDRO is appropriate under the circumstances, the QDRO is fair or anything else. In some cases, plans will even approve QDROs that do not comply with plan rules and essentially deny both parties higher monthly payments.

I believe our QDRO review service is the most underutilized service we offer. We typically receive glowing praise from our clients when we are hired to review a QDRO that someone else drafted. In some cases, it means dollars back in a client’s pocket. In most reviews, we are hired to examine the QDRO from one party’s perspective, although we could be jointly retained to perform a review.   We charge $200 to review a QDRO and our turn around is usually within a week. If you have a court schedule that necessitates a quicker turnaround, just let us know. To perform a review, we need a copy of your divorce judgment and a copy of the QDRO or other division order. The fee can be securely paid by credit card online at http://qdroprofs.com/forms.asp or by check. When we conduct a review, we usually report the results orally and flag all significant issues in the QDRO. If written explanations are requested and/or appropriate, we will report the results of our review in writing.

Yes, a QDRO can be filed with the court after the Judgment of Divorce or Judgment of Separate Maintenance is final. (You may want to read this post about the Statute of Limitations for QDROs.)

Although a QDRO may be filed at the time of divorce or even earlier (if the court has jurisdiction to issue a domestic relations order), it is quite common (probably around 99% of the time) for the QDRO to be filed after the Judgment is final. The primary reason why this occurs is that many retirement plans will review a draft of the QDRO before the QDRO is entered with the court. The review process can take several weeks or even longer. Most family law attorneys prefer to wrap up the divorce or legal separation without delay. Holding up the divorce simply to divide a retirement account or pension is not in the interest of the their clients.

Nonetheless, an reasonable alternative exists that very few attorneys consider. A QDRO may be drafted and entered with the court at the same time as the Judgment. If the retirement plan finds the QDRO unacceptable, revisions are made and the QDRO is amended. The benefits of this approach are: (1) attorneys can essentially avoid drafting retirement account and pension language into the Judgment and simply incorporate the QDRO(s) into the Judgment; (2) if an initial QDRO is accepted by a retirement plan, the parties are spared a separate signing session and your attorney is spared an additional trip to the courthouse; (3) there are certain risks during the period of time between the entry of the Judgment and the entry of a post-Judgment QDRO (see our Timing Considerations & Malpractice Traps article). The only drawback to this approach is that some plans might be somewhat surprised to receive an court-entered QDRO before seeing a draft. This should not, however, subject the QDRO to a more exacting review than a draft QDRO submission.

If you are a divorcing party who prefers the approach outlined above, simply inform you attorney that you want the QDRO simultaneously entered with the Judgement even if the plan has not reviewed a draft. If you receive resistance, then you might want to refer to the Timing Considerations & Malpractice Traps article. Typically, we only need two weeks lead time to prepare a QDRO. If you hire us to prepare a QDRO prior to entry of the Judgment, please complete our standard request form and include any caption page in lieu of the final Judgment. If you decide to go this route, we never charge an additional fee if the retirement plan requests revisions to the QDRO requiring an amendment.

We just signed up for the Google Checkout service which enables you to pay by credit card. You can pay with a Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover Card. The credit card billing information is processed securely and directly through Google. To pay online, just visit WWW.QDRO.PRO and click on “Forms/Pay Online.”

This Blog is New

This blog has been added to our website, WWW.QDRO.PRO. I will post helpful information for divorce lawyers and divorcing parties. If I come across a helpful case or an unusual situation, I will post an update to this blog. I intend for this to be an informal way of interacting with clients and prospective clients. Please consider subscribing by entering your email address in the form to the right.

Our Online Presence is Now at WWW.QDRO.PRO

We moved our website and e-mail addresses to WWW.QDRO.PRO because that domain name better matches the firm’s name.  The .PRO extension is reserved for licensed professionals, whereas .COM is available to everyone. Emails should be directed to INFO@QDRO.PRO.

We Moved Offices

QDRO Professionals PLLC
Attn: Jon Mallin
30300 Northwestern Hwy, Suite 260
Farmington Hills, MI  48334

Referrals

We look forward to continuing to serve you and your clients. Our marketing has been entirely word-of-mouth and we would appreciate any referrals you can provide.

Yours very truly,

Jon Mallin