Attorney Darren J. Goodman is the founder and president of QDRO Prep, a law practice dedicated to assisting attorneys and non-attorneys throughout California with the division of retirement plan assets in the context of a domestic relations proceedings. In 2007, QDRO Prep expanded service to attorneys and non-attorneys in Texas.

A qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) transfers a retirement benefit maintained by a private employer from one spouse's plan (the participant spouse) to the other spouse (non-participant spouse) as a marital property division or for child or spousal support. QDROs are required by federal laws that prohibit a retirement plan from assigning benefits to anyone other than the plan participant. In this regard, the QDRO is required by the plan so that the plan does not violate the anti-assignment rule by distributing benefits to the non-participant spouse. A similar type of court order (DRO) is often required for public or governmental plans. Since retirement plans may have a variety of features and characteristics, the QDRO or DRO must be tailored to the specific terms of the plan. As such, the challenge in drafting a QDRO or DRO is to carry out the parties' intention regarding the division of plan benefits in a manner that will not only be acceptable to the plan administrator but also which optimizes and protects each spouse's rights and entitlements under the plan.

• QDRO Prep offers the following services to attorneys and non-attorneys.
• Assisting attorneys with pertinent provisions in Marital Settlement Agreements and Judgments
• Preparing, filing, and serving joinder forms
• Preparing QDROs for all types of private retirement plans
• Preparing QDROs and related court orders for governmental plans
• Submitting QDROs to plan administrators for pre-approval
• Negotiating provisions of QDROs with plan administrators
• Reviewing QDROs prepared by other professionals
• Advising individuals with respect to retirement plan matters

QDRO Prep also offers the following services to employers and plan administrators.

• Establishing written QDRO Procedures required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
• Establishing sample QDRO language
• Reviewing QDROs on behalf of plan administrators
• Providing legal advice to employers, plan administrators and third party administrators with respect to QDRO related issues

There is a common misconception that there is only one way to prepare a QDRO. In fact, the QDRO preparer has many options to consider even with the most basic plans. At QDRO Prep, we practice only in this area of the law and have extensive experience handling the following types of retirement interests:

• California Public Employees Retirement System
• California State Teachers' Retirement System
• Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA)
• Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System (LACERS)
• City of Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension
• Civil Service Retirement System
• Federal Employees Retirement System
• Military pensions
• Traditional Defined Benefit Plans
• Cash Balance Defined Benefit Plans
• Profit Sharing and Money Purchase Pension Plans
• 401(k)s and other cash deferred plans
• and more