Employee and Employer Contributions
With this 401(k) plan, both employee deferrals and employer matching or discretionary contributions may exist. A properly drafted QDRO should state whether the alternate payee gets a share of only employee contributions or both employee and employer shares.
Employer contributions may be subject to a vesting schedule. If the employee spouse (also called the “participant”) isn’t fully vested, you can only award the vested portion. This is where an experienced QDRO attorney comes in—we know to ask for updated vesting reports before drafting the order.

