1. Employee and Employer Contributions
The plan likely includes:
- Pre-tax employee contributions – Fully owned by the participant
- Employer contributions – Subject to a vesting schedule
QDROs often award a percentage or set amount of the total account. But only vested contributions can be divided. If the participant is not yet fully vested, the alternate payee will not receive the unvested portion unless the QDRO provides protections in case of future vesting (a complex point that requires expert drafting).
We often recommend requesting current vesting information from the plan. Our team at PeacockQDROs helps clients get and interpret this data as part of our full-service approach.

