Dividing Retirement Assets in Divorce

Texas Lawyer Explains 401(k) and IRA Asset Division

Video Transcript:

Rob Rosenthal:

Do you know how your retirement assets will be split if you get divorced in Texas? We ask Austin attorney Jimmy Vaught in this AskTheLawyers™ Quick Question.

Jimmy Vaught:

It’s just like community property. Anything that accrued in a 401(k) or IRA during the marriage is community property. Now, one thing that's kind of tricky, especially with the 401(k)s is that you don't take the money out of the 401(k). Say if you split it 50/50, you don't take 50% out and cash it out and give it to the other party. What you do is you prepare what is called a qualified domestic relations order, and what that does is it orders the plan administrator of the 401(k) to split out a portion to the other spouse. I always equate it to cutting a slice of pie; you're not creating a new pie, you’re dividing the pie that’s already there.

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