Going through a divorce means your financial situation is going to change. For one thing, you are going to have to divide marital assets with your ex. On top of that, if the two of you were budgeting based on two incomes while you were married, your income is going to drop substantially.
One thing that often concerns people during a divorce is whether their spouse was earning retirement benefits or had access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan that they were also planning to use. If you and your spouse had plans to retire together, but then your spouse files for divorce, does that mean that you lose access to those retirement benefits and can no longer retire at all?
Dividing the benefits is part of the divorce
In many cases, you can still divide those retirement benefits. This is done with the use of a qualified domestic relations order, or QDRO. During property division, as the court assists with splitting up your other marital assets, they will determine what percentage of those benefits should be allotted to you.
The exact percentage is different in every case, so there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The court is going to look at a variety of different factors. One of the most important is the percentage of the benefits earned during your marriage. You generally get to divide benefits that were earned jointly, but your ex will retain the benefits that they earned either before or after the marriage.
It is very important to focus on long-term financial assets during a divorce and to understand exactly what legal steps you can take to protect them.