Dividing Employee and Employer Contributions
The Western Traffic Control 401(k) Plan likely includes both employee contributions (money the participant chose to put in) and employer contributions (from the Unknown sponsor). These are treated differently in divorce:
- Employee contributions are always fully owned by the participant and are divisible by QDRO.
- Employer contributions depend on the vesting schedule. If the participant isn’t fully vested, a portion of employer contributions might be excluded from division.
We recommend dividing the account by percentage as of a specific date (e.g., the date of separation) to account for market changes and fair valuation.

