On August 28, 2020 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced it had done a study surrounding improving the communication on how retirement funds are divided up in retirement resulting from a divorce and submitted it to the Department of Labor (DOL).
The notice number is GAO-20-541 and is titled “DOL Could Better Inform Divorcing Parties About Savings” and you can view the report HERE.
Highlights from the GAO-20-541 Report
- Although more than one-third of adults aged 50 or older have experienced
divorce, few people seek and obtain a Qualified Domestic Relations Order
(QDRO).
A QDRO formally details how the alternate payee is to receive retirement funds from the former spouse’s qualified plan such as a solo 401k plan or full-time employer 401k plan upon divorce.
- There are no nationally representative data on the number of QDROs, but plans and record keepers GAO interviewed and surveyed reported that few seek and obtain QDROs
- These experts cited concerns about QDRO review fees that they said in some cases were more than twice the amount of typical fees, and said they may discourage some from pursuing QDROs.
- Divorcing parties who pursue QDROs often had orders not qualified due to lacking basic information, according to plans and record keepers.
- Many experts cited a lack of awareness about QDROs by the public
and said DOL could do more to make resources available to divorcing parties.
