More than twice as many men as women have assets.

Most people going into a divorce do not realize that the pension benefits of a couple ending a long marriage may be greater than the house the couple lives in. A frugal couple who lived in one house for the retirement benefits greater than the market value of the home.

QDROs apply to ERISA-qualified pension plans, including defined ERISA prevents owners from assigning pension benefits to another person, so QDROs eliminate any barrier to their distribution as part of divorce. This, however, requires a QDRO.

A QDRO is a way of dividing these benefits equitably. Here are a few points to remember:

> Defined contribution plans have cash value today.
> They can be divided by a QDRO.
> A portion of the tax consequences.
> In some cases, the plan can be divided so that the former spouse now has an account with the company.

Normally, early distributions from a qualified plan -- those made before the age of 59 1/2 -- are subject to a 10 per cent penalty tax. I.R.S. tax regulation (72)(t)(2)(C) provides, however, that when money is withdrawn in accordance with a QDRO, the recipient can take it without penalty.

Care must be taken with transferring money from a spouse is subject to withholding and penalties.

Defined contribution plans, such as 401(k)s, are easier to divide than are defined defined benefit plan is harder to calculate because the payout is based on a plan formula, not an individual account. In general one of three methods -- called "present value" or "cashout," "deferred division," or "reserved jurisdiction" -- are used.

A QDRO "creates or recognizes the existence of an alternate payee’s right ... to receive all or a portion of the benefits" that otherwise would have gone to the owner. A properly written QDRO describes not only how the assets of a retirement benefits of her own (or none at all) and live longer than her former spouse.

QDROs distribute pensions along the approaches known as 1) shared payee. Each of these approaches have advantages and disadvantages.

Care must be taken in writing a QDRO. It must specify the name of each participant, his or her mailing address and that of the alternate payee, the percentage to be received by each payee (or the manner by which the percentage is calculated), the order applies.

A QDRO should be written with the proposed alternate payee may have problems collecting.

Even when a pension is divided 50/50, the division may produce what are termed "disparate results" because of the ages of the payee and alternate payee.

Because so many more men than women have pension rights. When the parties have other assets sufficient to do this, the offset method -- trading the pension to the participant in exchange for, say, a mutual fund -- may be more desirable than a QDRO.

See Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Plan.

See also Domestic Relations Order (DRO).