How are Retirement Plans Handled in a Divorce?

• Retirement plans can be very difficult for lay persons to wrap their heads around.
• During the course of a long-term marriage, one spouse may acquire substantial retirement benefits through his or her long-term employment and be surprised to learn that they must share that asset with their spouse – even though they were the ones who earned that asset.
• Retirement assets are divided between the parties in a divorce, and are sometimes the couple’s most valuable asset.
• There will be some distribution, either in the form of a direct division or as a set-off against another asset.
• One spouse may have worked and earned that asset but, even if the other spouse didn’t work at all, it will have to be shared.