Employee vs. Employer Contributions
This plan likely includes both employee contributions (deductions from paychecks) and employer profit-sharing contributions. When drafting the QDRO, you can choose to divide:
- The total account balance, including employer contributions,
- Only the employee’s contributions, or
- A dollar amount or a percentage as of a specific date.
The catch is employer contributions may be subject to a vesting schedule. If the employee isn’t fully vested at the time of the divorce, the unvested portion may be forfeited later—and the alternate payee won’t receive that part. We always clarify the vesting schedule before finalizing a QDRO to avoid these surprises.

