Retirement Accounts
When a marriage ends, all property must be properly divided, including division of retirement accounts. In Massachusetts, all marital property is subject to equitable division. Marital property includes any property acquired during a marriage.
The division of retirement accounts can be a contentious issue during any divorce. Many spouses do not understand that any share of a retirement account accrued during marriage is marital property that is subject to equitable division.
Understanding Your Rights • Structuring Divorce Settlements
Mavrides Law Firm offers the most experienced Boston divorce attorneys to help clients understand which portion of the retirement account is marital and which is non-marital. The divorce attorneys of Mavrides Law work diligently to help clients structure a comprehensive divorce settlement that carefully deals with issues relating to division of retirement accounts. Call us to mediate your division of assets.
Issues relating to division of retirement accounts include:
- 401K
- IRA
- Pension plans
- Profit sharing plans
- Government retirement accounts
QDRO's
A qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) is utilized in some divorce cases where it is necessary to award one of the spouses a share of the other spouse's retirement account assets. The QDRO is an order from a judge that instructs a plan administrator to transfer part of a retirement account from one spouse to the other, without tax or penalty impacts.
Since the QDRO does not result in an actual redemption of retirement account assets, it enables spouses to divide retirement account assets into separate accounts that do not result in income tax issues or early withdrawal penalties (though early withdrawal penalties and income tax may be assessed if a party actually makes a withdrawal from the account prior to the date on which withdrawals are authorized).
Quincy Divorce Attorneys • Boston Divorce Attorneys
To speak with an experienced divorce lawyer, contact Mavrides Law in Quincy or Boston, Massachusetts. To schedule an initial consultation, call 617-723-9900 or contact the firm by email.
