Employee and Employer Contributions
The most common way to divide a 401(k) is to award the alternate payee (usually the non-employee spouse) a percentage of the account balance as of a certain “valuation date,” such as the date of separation or divorce. This usually applies to both the employee’s contributions and any vested employer match.
If the plan includes employer contributions that are not yet vested, it’s critical to specify in the QDRO whether the alternate payee will share in future vesting or only keep what was already earned by the cutoff date. This will directly impact the dollar amount they receive.

