decision or final judgement

[mmclaugh]

my ex had a defined contribution retirement account from her former employer which had a value of 37K. The final judgement says"defendant shall transfer the sum of 37k from her retirement account to me by qdro, as equitable assignment of the property. Any balance shall be the separate propert of the defendant(her) free and clear from demands. the account value went downabout 10k. am i entitled to the difference?

 

[Ohiogal]

You are entitled to 37k. That is what it stated. It doesn't state 100% of her retirement or anything like that. It states 37k, correct? If so then you are entitled to 37k.

 

[mistoffolees]

You are entitled to 37k. That is what it stated. It doesn't state 100% of her retirement or anything like that. It states 37k, correct? If so then you are entitled to 37k.

Just one more example why people should tie up loose ends ASAP after a divorce. Leaving things unsettled is likely to create problems.

 

[LdiJ]

You are entitled to 37k. That is what it stated. It doesn't state 100% of her retirement or anything like that. It states 37k, correct? If so then you are entitled to 37k.

This is a huge problem for many people in every state. Retirement accounts have gone seriously down in value and so has real estate equity.

While I agree with you legally, fairness would indicate that both parties should take a share of the "hit" if the assets exchanged for the 401k took a hit as well.

The only way that I would potentially disagree with you legally, was if it was OP's responsibility to draw up the QDRO and the OP delayed in doing so. It would be difficult to hold the ex liable for the deficit if the OP had the opportunity to get the full amount but did not receive it due to a delay on the OP's part.

 

[Ronin]

The final judgement says"defendant shall transfer the sum of 37k from her retirement account to me by qdro, as equitable assignment of the property...

If the funds in the retirement account are insufficient to transfer 37K, through no fault of the account owner, the plain wording of the decree appears to have some room for challenge.

If I was expected to cover the entire loss in such a case, I would almost surely push this issue back to court to resolve it.

It may then boil down to the court determining what each parties proportionate responsibility is in terms of who had the obligation to ensure these funds were transferred in a timely manner, and how much time had actually lapsed. If you could have been reasonably expected to have done this six months ago, then that could be used as a cutoff point to determine the value of the funds at that time.

Even if you had gotten your money right away and rolled into another 401K or similar account, it would have likely taken the same hit or worse.

 

[mmclaugh]

Next step

When I went to court in Oct 2008 the judge gave us another court date for 1/15 which is the deadline for making this happen. if the transfer of the 37k does not take place by then,can I hold her in contempt of court and sue her for the 37K?

 

[mistoffolees]

When I went to court in Oct 2008 the judge gave us another court date for 1/15 which is the deadline for making this happen. if the transfer of the 37k does not take place by then,can I hold her in contempt of court and sue her for the 37K?

Technically, you can't hold her in contempt, but you can ask the judge to hold her in contempt.

At that point, the judge will ask her if there's a good reason why she shouldn't be held in contempt.

It's not hard to predict what her response will be. She will argue that the entire value of the 401K was $37 K at the time of the divorce, but it has dropped since then and will ask the judge to allow her to transfer the full amount as satisfaction of the original order. It would not be unreasonable for the judge to allow that. After all, stock prices dropped - whether she owned the 401K or you did.

You might save yourself some time and money by simply agreeing to take 100% of the current value rather than insisting on the $37 K - even though that's what the order said.

 

[Ronin]

It's just as much your responsibility, if not more so, to make this happen on your own behalf. There should be nothing preventing your attorney from getting the paperwork together and submitting this to the 401K plan administrator to disburse the funds accordingly. My ex's attorney had no problem with this, and in my case I had to do nothing to make this happen.

 

[mmclaugh]

Do I have to hire an atty

In the final judgement it says that my ex shall transfer the 37k. do I have to hire and pay an atty to make this happen/ or can i do it on my own? can i make he rpay for my atty costs?

 

[mistoffolees]

In the final judgement it says that my ex shall transfer the 37k. do I have to hire and pay an atty to make this happen/ or can i do it on my own? can i make he rpay for my atty costs?

You need a QDRO or you're going to end up losing a lot of it to taxes. QDROs must be properly drafted to be meaningful. Some attorneys can do it, and some financial advisors can do it. I would not recommend doing it on your own.

You can not make her pay for your attorney costs. You can petition the court to order her to pay, but the fight over the costs is likely to cost you more than just paying for the QDRO yourself.

 

[mmclaugh]

continuance

My ex emailed me yesterday saying that two letters went out to Fidelity, She also said she was logging her activity to make this happen. The court date is tomorrow which is when the judge gave a deadline for this to happen, I got a message from her atty office saying they want a continuance as she can not make it to court tomorrow. What should i do? Can i sue her personally for the money? Should I ask her to bring copies of the letters to court? what would you do?

 

[mistoffolees]

My ex emailed me yesterday saying that two letters went out to Fidelity, She also said she was logging her activity to make this happen. The court date is tomorrow which is when the judge gave a deadline for this to happen, I got a message from her atty office saying they want a continuance as she can not make it to court tomorrow. What should i do? Can i sue her personally for the money? Should I ask her to bring copies of the letters to court? what would you do?

With this much money at stake, I would have an attorney.

 

[mmclaugh]

court date

should I show up for the court date even though she will not be there?