CalPERS Could Hold Your Retirement Distribution For Up To 4 Years.
Are you one of the over 1.6 million people who are a part of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS)? Is a portion of the CalPERS benefits being awarded to an ex-spouse? If you answered yes to both questions, you’re presently looking at an average wait time of up to 4 years before benefits will be awarded. You might not want to wait to file your QDRO (Qualified Domestic Relations Order) to have CalPERS benefits divided. If you wait until retirement, the process could take longer. If you’re expecting benefits to be paid soon after retirement, then don’t let CalPERS hold up the process by not taking action now.
CalPERS Process In Paying Retirement Benefits Awarded To An Ex-Spouse
After a divorce judgment has been filed at the court ordering the division of a retirement account, another order known as a Qualified Domestic Relations Order must be filed at the court and submitted to CalPERS. Before CalPERS will divide the retirement account, CalPERS must approve the QDRO before it’s signed by the judge. The process of obtaining an approval on a QDRO with CalPERS takes more time than with most other retirement plans. Presently, most other plans give approval within a few weeks, but CalPERS is very backlogged, and taking up to 18 months to review a QDRO. Upon approval, the QDRO is submitted to the court where it presently takes 2-6 weeks to get a Judge’s signature. Now the official order gets submitted again to CalPERS for the division of the account which is presently taking another 18+ months before CalPERS can pay benefits. Simply put, you can expect the QDRO process to take just under 4 years.
What Is A Joinder And How Does It Affect CalPERS Process Of Awarding Benefits?
A joinder is the legal process where a retirement plan is joined to the divorce case before a QDRO can be signed by the Judge. CalPERS must be joined to the case. The initial phase of the QDRO process is the notice of the filed Joinder on the retirement plan administrator. An order restraining the retirement plan from paying benefits to the employee spouse pending the disposition of the non-employee spouse’s interest can be sought with the Joinder. In other words, the joinder “freezes” the plan until the QDRO has been completed. Keep in mind that trying to punish your ex-spouse by delaying benefit payments could also delay payment of your benefits.
Who Should Prepare My CalPERS QDRO?
Finding the right professionals to complete your CalPERS QDRO is very important. Just Document Preparation is bonded and registered as required by California Business & Professions Code Section 6400 and has been preparing legal documents since 1996. Beware of legal document services that don’t comply with the law. Most of our business comes through referrals from satisfied clients. We have a 100% success rate with CalPERS QDROs. Please visit our QDRO page here. Also as a testament to our quality, you can read some of our many excellent reviews here.
Start Your CalPERS QDRO Now & Ensure Your CalPERS Retirement Process Go As Smoothly As Possible
You can start your CalPERS QDRO during your divorce process or right after a judgment for divorce is filed. Our team can start your joinder and QDRO process for CalPERS today. All we need is your judgment or your case number if the judgment hasn’t been filed. Contact our team today with any questions on our contact page here.
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