Most people who go through a divorce don’t realize that they are entitled to a certain portion of their spouse’s retirement, pension or 401k. Others know they are entitled to a share, but choose not ask for it. The document needed to split a retirement, pension or 401k is called a Qualified Domestic Relations Order, or QDRO for short. When you make the decision to go forward with doing the documents to insure that you receive your share of your spouse’s retirement, pension or 401k, finding just the right person to do the documents for you can be a challenge. It is so important that the QDRO be typed correctly. If the QDRO isn’t typed correctly, it can affect the amount you receive, how you receive it, when you receive it and many other factors. Processing a QDRO is a long process that can become longer if the Plan doesn’t pre-approve the QDRO the first time. Usually the reason a Plan doesn’t approve the draft is either the person typing the QDRO (or retirement split) didn’t request a sample from the Plan, which is VERY important, or they didn’t pay attention to the QDRO sample that the Plan provides, and made errors. It is also important to make sure that you still have a retirement account with that Plan! I know this sounds strange, but I have a customer who contracted with me to do his QDRO. The customer’s responsibility is to bring me all of the necessary information, such as final divorce documents (showing that the ex spouse was awarded a share of the pension) and the name/phone number and email address of the person at the Plan where the pension is held and the draft of the QDRO is to be sent for pre-approval. My customer did all of those things and even called the Plan and requested that they send me their sample of the QDRO they prefer to be used when splitting their pension plans. What he failed to do was to check and make sure he still had an account! I did my part by typing the QDRO to split his pension and sending the draft of the QDRO to the Plan for pre-approval. Today I received a letter back from the Plan, stating that my client received a “total distribution” from the Plan in 2008! This brings up a whole other issue that now has to be dealt with. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Deeds in Trusts, Divorces & more
Most Legal Document Assistants take continuing education classes once a month. This month, we attended a class in Hayward, on preparing deeds. Many of us offer the preparation of deeds to our customers, so we were happy to attend this class. No matter how much you may think you know, there is always something to learn at these classes.
There are many instances where one may need to have a new deed prepared.
When drafting a Trust, a deed is generally prepared to transfer title of real property to the name of the Trust. We usually use Trust Transfer deeds for this situation.
In a divorce action, deeds are often prepared when one party of the divorce gives up his/her interest in real property to the other party. These deeds can be Interspousal Transfer deeds, Grant deeds or Quit claim deeds. Sometimes, one may want to add a new spouse or adult child to the deed. In all of these instances, preparation of the deed is very important. If the deed isn’t correctly prepared, there can be issues in the future. If you want to transfer title of your property to a trust, or if you are getting divorced and need a deed prepared to quit claim title to your spouse, we can help you.
We are not attorneys. We cannot give you advice. If you need advice, you will need to consult with an attorney
Trust /Estate planning – Tracy, Ca.
We received a call from a man who wanted us to assist him with a deed issue. He owns a piece of real property. At his passing, he wanted his 3 grandchildren to receive the property. However, instead of doing a Trust, placing that property into the Trust and stating how he wanted it distributed, he made the decision to put all three of the grandchildren on title with him, as Joint Tenants. All three children are minors.
Now he wants to sell the property and is having a problem doing so. In making the decision not to have a Trust, he created a very serious problem for himself. In order to sell his property, each minor grandchild will require a guardianship, which will take time to implement and which is very costly. Had this man planned his estate properly and had a Trust drafted, the property would still be his, without these issues and he would have been able to do whatever he wished with the property.
Now is a good time to think about a Trust. No one really likes to think about dying. But it happens. We at Court Forms Plus in Tracy, California, can help you with drafting a Trust. Call us if you would like details.
We are not attorneys. We cannot give you advice. If you need advice, you will need to consult with an attorney