1. Employee and Employer Contributions
Both the employee and the employer typically make contributions to this type of plan. The employee’s contributions are always fully vested, but the employer’s contributions may be subject to a vesting schedule—which means unvested amounts could be forfeited if the employee hasn’t stayed with the company long enough. This matters because:
- A QDRO can only award what’s vested at the time of the division, unless otherwise negotiated.
- Unvested employer contributions are usually not transferable to the alternate payee (non-employee spouse).

