1. Employee and Employer Contributions
The employee’s salary deferrals are always fully vested, but employer contributions may be subject to a vesting schedule. This means not all the funds you see on a statement are necessarily available to be divided.
The QDRO must account for:
- Which contributions are includable (employee, employer match)
- Whether unvested employer contributions are excluded from division
- The valuation date—or the date used to set the account balance to be divided (often the date of separation or agreed by the parties)

