Contributions and How They’re Divided
There are two types of contributions that must be addressed in your QDRO:
- Employee Contributions: These are always 100% vested and belong to the participant. They’re usually straightforward to divide based on the marital portion.
- Employer Contributions: These may be subject to a vesting schedule, which means only part of these funds may actually belong to the participant—and therefore the former spouse.
Your QDRO must state how to treat employer contributions that are not yet vested. If the QDRO is silent, you could lose out on unvested funds that become vested later.

