1. Employer vs. Employee Contributions
401(k) accounts include both employee (your spouse’s) and employer contributions. In divorce, QDROs typically address the “marital portion” of the account. Usually, this includes the value of the account from the date of marriage to the date of separation.
With the Gbw, LLC 401(k) Plan, care should be taken to account for:
- Separate the employee’s contributions (which may be fully vested) from employer contributions (which may not be vested yet)
- Clarify entitlement to earnings and losses from the valuation date to the date of distribution

