Practice Area · Retirement
Retirement assets in divorce.
Retirement accounts are often the largest liquid-looking asset in the case — and the place where the “a dollar is not a dollar” rule bites hardest. Pre-tax dollars, Roth dollars, and pension promises are three different currencies.
Different Currencies
Pre-tax, Roth, and the pension promise.
A pre-tax 401(k) dollar carries an embedded tax bill; a Roth dollar doesn't; a defined-benefit pension isn't a balance at all but a stream that must be valued or divided over time — with survivor benefits that vanish if the order forgets them. Trading these at face value moves real money silently. Every retirement division I structure is tax-adjusted first, so the trade is even in the only currency that matters: after-tax value.
The Mechanics
Orders that plans will actually honor.
Most qualified plans divide by QDRO — a separate order the plan administrator must accept, with drafting details (valuation dates, gains and losses to division, loan treatment, survivor elections) that decide real dollars. IRAs transfer incident to the decree without a QDRO but with their own tax-safe procedures. Two rules from hard experience: the QDRO gets drafted and submitted with the decree, not “later” — later is where benefits go to die — and no money moves outside the approved mechanism, because an early or informal withdrawal turns a tax-free division into a taxable event with penalties.
Common Questions
Before anyone touches the accounts.
Is my 401(k) all mine since it's from my job?
The contributions and growth during the marriage are marital regardless of whose name is on the account. The premarital balance can be carved out — with records. Same tracing discipline, different account type.
Can I just cash out and pay my ex their share?
Please don't. A withdrawal outside the QDRO/transfer mechanisms triggers tax and often penalties on money that could have moved tax-free. The mechanism is the whole point.
What happens to my pension if my ex dies first — or I do?
Whatever the order says — which is why survivor benefits and elections must be addressed explicitly at drafting. Silence in the order becomes someone's zero later.
The rest of this chapter.
Closely held businesses, professional practices, executive and equity compensation, trusts, real estate, and the tracing that decides what is marital and what is not.
- Business Valuationthe number that decides the case→
- High-Asset Divorcecomplex estates, disclosure, and the five-year rule→
- Business Owner Divorcekeeping the company you built→
- Complex Financial Divorcevalue, characterize, tax-effect — then divide→
- Property Divisionequitable, not automatic 50/50→
- Separate Propertya records-management discipline→
- Spousal Maintenancethe formula, published with a worked example→
- Executive Compensationproperty or income — the line worth arguing→
- Stock Options & RSUstax character changes real value→
- Trust Intereststhe instrument, not the balance, decides→
- Real Estatevalue, equity, and after-tax proceeds differ→
- Retirement AssetsQDROs, and three different currenciesYou are here
- Professional Practicesgoodwill, licensure, and buyouts→
- Tax Strategythe settlement that matters is the after-tax one→
- Hidden Assets & Forensic Discoverythe disclosure duty, and the five-year hammer→
- Cryptocurrency & Digital Assetsfindable, valuable, divisible→
- Married to the Business Ownerleveling the information field→
- Income Determinationwhat “income” means when you own the company→
Engagement
Divide it once, correctly, in the right currency.
A consultation is a scheduled working session — in person in Greenwood Village or by video — in which we go through your situation and I tell you what I would do. It is a paid meeting, not a free call and not a sales pitch; my assistant quotes the consultation fee when you schedule. There is no chatbot here: the contact form and the phone both reach my office, my assistant reviews every inquiry personally, and the meeting goes on my calendar. Please hold the confidential details until we have run a conflicts check.