The management and conclusion of many noncomplex divorce matters with associated litigation share much in common. The parties and attorneys work to sort out custody and support issues, value limited assets and debts and then negotiate to settle or litigate the economic issues in equitable distribution. In what many practitioners term, the “house and pension case,” the number of steps required to conclude a matter for clients might be able to be counted on one hand. Getting an agreement, refinancing and transferring the deed to the marital home, deciding who retains or pays marital debt and securing a firm to draft and coordinate a domestic relations order might be all that is required to bring all issues to full resolution. In cases with assets running into the millions of dollars, however, settlement and full implementation of the terms of the agreement often require a seemingly endless number of tasks needed to distribute assets of many different classifications, held by numerous financial services institutions. High-asset cases can often have a multistate real estate component which may present additional issues.
Retirement Assets
• Defined benefit plans: Less common than they were 20 or 30 years ago, the defined benefit plan is what most consider a “traditional pension,” where an employer sponsors the “pension plan,” the employer makes contributions to the plan and monthly benefits are paid according to a formula that takes into account salary history (sometimes highest salary earned), time in service in the plan and other factors. The value of a party’s defined benefit pension also takes into account these factors and cannot be reduced to any certain number unless various assumptions are employed. In order to divide the defined benefit pension in a divorce, a domestic relations order must be drafted according to language approved by the pension plan, signed by a judge and then supplied to the plan as a court order before benefits can be scheduled to be paid.
