Employee and Employer Contributions
The first step in dividing a 401(k) plan is to distinguish between employee and employer contributions. The Korein Tillery, LLC 401(k) Retirement & Savings Plan likely includes both:
- Employee contributions are always 100% vested and available for division.
- Employer contributions are subject to a vesting schedule, and only vested amounts can be divided under a QDRO.
It’s essential to confirm the vesting schedule—you don’t want to award your spouse a portion of funds that haven’t fully vested and could be forfeited if the employee changes jobs. This detail should be explicitly referenced in the QDRO language.

