Employee and Employer Contributions
The QDRO must specify whether the alternate payee (typically the non-employee spouse) will receive a share of:
- Only the marital portion (based on dates of marriage and separation)
- The full vested account balance
- Only employee contributions, or both employee and employer contributions
It’s also critical to know whether any of the employer contributions are subject to vesting. Unvested amounts at the time of division typically can’t be assigned to the alternate payee.

