Uncollected divorce proceeds

[Jonboy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma. I was divorced 4 years ago and all of the account transfer information with signatures and stamped envelopes to send them in, were presented to the ex and here attorney at the final court hearing. There is still an IRA that has never been transfered. The account has grown about 10% since the divorce. What are
my rights on the account now. Is there a staledate on collection? Are the gain in proceeds of the account 50/50 since she has not collected it. Can I
manage the account for a better rate of return? (Say to a higher rate CD or something that is safe?)

 

[mistoffolees]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma. I was divorced 4 years ago and all of the account transfer information with signatures and stamped envelopes to send them in, were presented to the ex and here attorney at the final court hearing. There is still an IRA that has never been transfered. The account has grown about 10% since the divorce. What are
my rights on the account now. Is there a staledate on collection? Are the gain in proceeds of the account 50/50 since she has not collected it. Can I
manage the account for a better rate of return? (Say to a higher rate CD or something that is safe?)

What specifically does the decree say? We'll need specifics to answer your question. Just be thankful that the account has grown rather than shrunk.

 

[Jonboy]

Since the divorce was settled out of court and the decree was written
by both attorneys there is no verbiage before or after this IRA other than what items each person gets. It was more a list and amounts. I kept my SEP IRA from work and she received my personal IRA both of which were about equal amounts. The IRA was set up collecting interest and obviously I have not and do not plan on risking changing that. Since I can't make her send in her paperwork to change the account my question is what happens to the gain and also if I changed the account to a higher CD based interest rate can I do that? Since it is still in my name and the amount originally was noted on the decree in the sum total of what she gets what happens?

 

[mistoffolees]

Since the divorce was settled out of court and the decree was written
by both attorneys there is no verbiage before or after this IRA other than what items each person gets. It was more a list and amounts. I kept my SEP IRA from work and she received my personal IRA both of which were about equal amounts. The IRA was set up collecting interest and obviously I have not and do not plan on risking changing that. Since I can't make her send in her paperwork to change the account my question is what happens to the gain and also if I changed the account to a higher CD based interest rate can I do that? Since it is still in my name and the amount originally was noted on the decree in the sum total of what she gets what happens?

Repeat: Tell us exactly what the decree says and you will get some advice.

 

[Jonboy]

Verbatim: Wife shall be awarder as her fair and equitable share of the property acquired during the marriage the following:

Line item B: Husbands IRA $$$$$$ (amount equal to balance of account at time of divorce)

 

[LdiJ]

Verbatim: Wife shall be awarder as her fair and equitable share of the property acquired during the marriage the following:

Line item B: Husbands IRA $$$$$$ (amount equal to balance of account at time of divorce)

It sounds like an argument could be made that she was awarded the account itself, which would indicate that she was awarded everything in it, even though an amount was specified. I would NOT mess with it if its in a safe investment now.

 

[mistoffolees]

Verbatim: Wife shall be awarder as her fair and equitable share of the property acquired during the marriage the following:

Line item B: Husbands IRA $$$$$$ (amount equal to balance of account at time of divorce)

That's a very badly worded decree. Your best bet is to go back to court to have the order enforced since no timeline was given. But because of the wording, you're likely to get the exact dollar amount, NOT any gains on the account (of course, if the account had dropped, you would have been ordered to receive the exact amount rather than the decrease, as well-it works both ways).

Technically, he's not in contempt of the order because no timeline was given, but you're going to be able to get the court to order him to distribute the money in a timely order. I just don't know if you file for contempt for for clarification (someone here can answer).

You could ask the court for the gains on your $$$$$, but it's not obvious that you will get them. If the account had fallen by 20%, you'd probably be insisting on the dollar amount and fair is fair.

Note to others reading this: NEVER have a divorce decree order a given amount of money in a retirement account unless there is a very clear timeline (and a short one, at that). Ideally, the order should read that you get 63.7% of the value of the account to be transferred within 30 days or something like that.