QDRO Practice Tip of the Month

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Hoffman & Van Clief LLP

QDROs | Valuations | Equity Compensation

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QDRO Article Prepared for Colorado Divorce Attorneys

by: Alex Hoffman and Elizabeth Van Clief

If a divorce matter involves an employee of the federal government, the employee likely has both the Federal Employee Retirement System “FERS” and the Thrift Savings Plan “TSP” which are marital assets subject to division.

The FERS plan is a defined benefit pension plan that pays monthly starting at retirement age and payable over the employee’s lifetime. The Office of Personnel Management is the Plan Administrator for FERS. The TSP is a 401(k) style retirement plan with investments and a current account balance that can be divided and transferred between spouses. The Thrift Savings Board (tsp.gov) is the Plan Administrator for the TSP.

Many divorce attorneys do not realize that federal employees normally have both of these plans and one or both of these plans can be inadvertently overlooked in a divorce proceeding. In particular, family law attorneys should look out for situations where the federal employee claims they do not have a pension simply because it has not “vested” yet. Even if a federal employee does not yet have the required five years of service to fully “vest” in FERS,  there is still a marital interest in the pension benefits once they vest in the future and the FERS pension should be listed in the Judgment and divided now using a Domestic Relations Order.

Also, for FERS employees who are already retired, the Decree of Dissolution should specifically address the survivor benefit for the  FERS pension and state whether it is granted to the former spouse, otherwise the survivor benefit can be automatically cancelled by OPM as a result of divorce since the parties are no longer “married” for purposes of the survivor benefit.

If you have any questions about FERS, TSP, or other retirement benefits in general, please feel free to contact our law firm Hoffman & Van Clief LLP. We specialize in preparing QDROs for a flat rate of $650 for all types of retirement plans in divorce. Our flat fee includes filing the QDRO with the court and serving it on the Plan Administrator (i.e. “full service” QDRO preparation).

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If you have any questions about the course, please feel free to call our office at

720-800-8418 or e-mail alex@hvclaw.com and we will be happy to assist!