Minnesota Domestic Relations Order regarding Property Settlement

In general, all income and assets earned during the marriage in a community property states belong to the parties equally and are divided on that basis when they divorce.Although Minnesota is an equitable division state, in practice it is very close to a community property state.

A domestic relations order that creates or recognizes the existence of an alternate payee's right to receive, or assigns to an alternate payee the right to receive, all or a portion of a participant's benefits under an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

To be more precise, federal law does not contain a time limit for filing a QDRO, though there may be legal or procedural arguments under the divorce laws of a particular state that make it difficult if you or your attorney makes the request long after the divorce.

During divorce proceedings, both parties will identify the assets that need to be divided, including retirement plans. If you're awarded part of your former spouse's retirement account (either through a property settlement or via a judge), the court will issue a QDRO that may have been drafted by your divorce attorney.

A spouse or former spouse who receives QDRO benefits from a retirement plan reports the payments received as if he or she were a plan participant. The spouse or former spouse is allocated a share of the participant's cost (investment in the contract) equal to the cost times a fraction.

After pre-approval, spouses sign the document and the QDRO is submitted for a judge's signature by your attorney. After it has been signed and filed by the judge, spouses should obtain a certified copy of the QDRO which can be obtained from a clerk of the court for a small fee.

If there is no QDRO in his employee file when he retires and begins collecting benefits, the non-employee spouse will get nothing and may not be able to recover her share retroactively.The Parties May Relocate: The party who applies to the Court for a QDRO is required to provide notice to the other party.

It typically takes a minimum of two months from start to finish to obtain a qualified domestic relations order, or QDRO. But it can also take up to two years because, like answers to all legal questions, it depends on the facts and circumstances of your situation.