Are there additional problems a plan administrators interpretation may cause?
Yes. The share of the pension plan or retirement account is important. However, a plan administrator’s interpretation of the divorce decree might also limit a former spouse’s flexibility with a host of other issues that a properly drafted QDRO would address. Worse yet, the plan administrator’s interpretation of a divorce decree involving a defined benefit pension plan might allow the pension plan to pocket some of the pension benefits and pay out less money than the plan would have paid out in the absence of the divorce. That helps no one, except perhaps, the employer who sponsors the pension plan.
