Employee vs. Employer Contributions
One of the first considerations is determining what’s actually divisible. Employee contributions (pre-tax or Roth) are always divisible. Employer contributions, however, are subject to vesting. This means the employee must stay with the company a certain number of years to “own” or vest in those employer contributions.
When drafting a QDRO, we instruct clients to check the most recent benefit statement or obtain a participant vesting report. This identifies what portion of the employer contributions are vested—and only the vested amount is available for division.

