QDROs in Texas

If you are getting a divorce in Texas and there are retirement benefits to be divided, mentioning these benefits in the Final Decree of Divorce is not enough.

The company will want paperwork that ORDERS them to divide the retirement benefits.  A divorce decree is not enough.  The company's legal department wants to be legally ordered to do certain things. There are special legal forms that ORDER the corporation to divide the money!  (They don't want to be sued by their employee.) You can call the corporation and talk to the human resources department or their legal department for details.

You need a Qualified Domestic Relations Order  (or QDRO) signed by the Judge!

Most attorneys will no longer prepare them.  Why?  Because most attorneys that have been practicing over 10 years have been burned (like me!) because we used to do QDROs and eventually if you do enough of them one of them will blow up!

So there are attorneys that like to do paperwork that gradually evolved that only specialize in doing this sort of paperwork.

I was going to list them -- but once I started looking them up -- I noticed that there are a lot of them & I don't want to forget to list a good one!

So just "google" the terms "QDRO and Texas" and a bunch will pop up.  I'd pick one in your area.

Every major city appears to have one or two companies -- Houston (Spring/the Woodlands), Austin, Dallas, etc. all have attorneys that have ended up specializing in QDROs.

Remember if you don't do the paperwork now then you are only hurting yourself and potentially costing yourself thousands of dollars later!  Or, you could be putting these retirement benefits at risk.

If they are not divided properly now they could be gone later!

So do not delay!  Do it now.  It normally costs around $500 to do a QDRO.  It's money wisely spent now.

Don't put it off.  The judge will sign it as part of your divorce now.  If you don't do it now, the judge might wonder later why you did not do it at the time of the divorce...so just do it!