Know When to Hold 'Em

This will be a panel with three Bay Area QDRO attorneys educating on how to protect and divide retirement Plan assets, including when and how to prepare and serve Joinders, limitations on their use and alternative procedures. We will inform on current issues with Roth and other post-tax contribution sources in retirement plans, and how to identify and divide them. We will provide tips for checking CPA and other calculations for accuracy before relying on them to form final agreements and cover the importance of addressing gains and losses in written agreements. We will elucidate when a QDRO is required and not required, and when the form of order is not called a “QDRO.” We will also cover the ever-present possibility of a client death before a retirement division is completed, and ways to avoid malpractice.

Topics

• The when, why, and how of Joinders: what do they do (and not do) to protect the community’s interest
• ROTH and other post-tax components of retirement plans; issues in division
• Tips for checking calculations for accuracy before relying on them to form final agreements
• Gains and losses; how are they calculated? Why does it matter so much?
• When a QDRO is not required; IRAs and important ways in which they are different from 401(k) Plans
• Death and ways to avoid malpractice