Pension Division Attorney NYC

Last Updated on: 11th October 2025, 11:05 am

Pension Division Attorney NYC

The QDRO came back rejected for the third time. Wrong plan name. Wrong format for survivor benefits. Language that the NYPD pension fund doesn’t accept even though it works for every other retirement plan. Six months wasted. The pension-holding spouse retired last month and started collecting full benefits. The alternate payee gets nothing until this gets fixed.

Why Pension Division Gets Complicated

Retirement accounts like 401(k)s are straightforward. Calculate the marital portion, split it, transfer the funds. Done. Pensions dont work that way.

Defined benefit pensions pay monthly income for life. You can’t divide the account because there is no account. You’re dividing future income streams that depend on retirement age, salary at retirement, years of service, and plan-specific formulas.

New York City pension systems have their own rules. NYCERS, Teachers’ Retirement System, FDNY, NYPD—each system uses different QDRO language, different timing rules, different survivor benefit options. What works for one gets rejected by another.

Coverture Fraction Disputes

The coverture fraction determines what portion of the pension is marital property. The formula: years married while pension accrued divided by total years of pension service.

Someone worked for the NYC Department of Education for 28 years. Married for 14 of those years. The coverture fraction is 14/28, or 50%. The non-employee spouse gets half of that 50% marital portion—25% of the total pension benefit.

Complications emerge when calculating. Does the marriage end at separation or divorce judgment? Does pension service include military buyback credits? What about unused sick leave credited as service time?

A firefighter with 22 years of FDNY service got divorced. The marriage lasted 11 years, but the divorce took three years to finalize. Did the coverture fraction use 11 years or 14 years? Judges have ruled both ways.

### Defined Benefit vs Defined Contribution

Defined contribution plans have account balances. You know exactly what the asset is worth. Defined benefit plans pay monthly amounts calculated using formulas.

Present value calculations produce wildly different numbers. Use a 3% discount rate and the pension is worth $800,000. Use 5% and it’s worth $620,000. The employee spouse wants the higher discount rate. The other spouse wants the lower rate.

NYC Pension System Complications

NYCERS covers most city employees. TRS covers teachers. Police and fire have separate systems.

Teachers’ Retirement System

TRS offers Tier 4 and Tier 6 plans with different benefit formulas. TRS pensions include several components: basic pension, supplemental pension, excess benefit, and cost-of-living adjustments. The QDRO must specify which components get divided.

A teacher retired at age 58. The divorce settlement said the ex-spouse gets “50% of the marital portion of the pension.” But which pension? The basic pension was $68,000 annually. With supplemental and excess benefits, the total reached $74,000. The QDRO didn’t specify. TRS rejected it.

NYPD and FDNY Pensions

Police and fire pensions allow retirement after 20 or 22 years of service regardless of age. Someone can start collecting at age 42. This creates problems when the non-employee spouse has to wait decades for their share.

These pensions also include variable supplements fund payments that fluctuate based on investment returns. The QDRO must address whether the alternate payee shares in VSF payments and how they’re calculated.

A police officer with 18 years of service got divorced. Four years later he retired with 22 years of service. The QDRO based the coverture fraction on years at divorce (18) rather than years at retirement (22). The alternate payee’s benefit was calculated on a lower total pension than expected. The QDRO was technically correct based on the settlement language, but the ex-spouse hadn’t understood the implications.

QDRO Rejection Problems

Plan administrators reject QDROs for technical deficiencies. Wrong participant identification numbers. Incorrect plan names. Language that conflicts with plan provisions.

Plan name errors. Writing “New York City Employees Retirement System” instead of “New York City Employees’ Retirement System” with the apostrophe. The systems are particular about exact naming.

Survivor benefit language that doesnt match plan options. NYCERS offers different survivor benefit elections. The QDRO must use the exact terminology the system uses. Generic language about “joint and survivor annuity” gets rejected.

Calculation methodologies that don’t align with how the system computes benefits. Each pension system has approved QDRO formats. Deviating from those formats increases rejection risk.

Early Retirement Subsidies

Many pension plans offer early retirement subsidies—enhanced benefits if you retire during specific windows. The question: does the alternate payee share in early retirement subsidies?

A transit worker became eligible for an early retirement incentive that increased the pension by $8,000 annually. Did that include the marital portion? The transit authority said no—the incentive was a plan amendment enacted after the divorce. They litigated for two years before settling.

### Survivor Benefits and Beneficiary Rights

When the pension-holding spouse dies, what happens to the alternate payee’s share? That depends on what survivor benefit election was made and whether the QDRO preserved the alternate payee’s rights.

Most pension plans require survivor benefit elections at retirement. The retiree can choose single life (higher monthly payment, nothing for survivors) or joint and survivor (lower monthly payment, continued payments to survivor after death).

If the QDRO doesn’t protect the alternate payee, the participant can elect single life and the alternate payee loses everything when the participant dies.

A divorced spouse was entitled to 40% of the ex-husband’s pension. The QDRO didn’t address survivor benefits. The ex-husband elected single life when he retired. He died six years later. The ex-wife’s payments stopped. She had received $67,000 total. If he’d elected joint and survivor coverage, she would have continued receiving $22,000 annually.

Valuation Timing

Pension benefits often increase between divorce and retirement. The coverture fraction accounts for this by fixing the marital portion as a fraction rather than a dollar amount.

Problems arise when the pension formula changes post-divorce. A city employee switched benefit calculations, increasing the pension by $11,000 annually. The ex-spouse claimed entitlement. The participant argued it wasn’t marital property.

Alternate Payee Limitations

An alternate payee under a QDRO can’t force the participant to retire. They can’t change the benefit calculation. They can’t access the pension until the participant becomes eligible.

Private sector QDROs under ERISA allow alternate payees to begin receiving payments when the participant reaches earliest retirement age. NYC pension systems generally don’t allow this.

What Happens When QDROs Fail

Sometimes QDROs never get submitted. Sometimes they get rejected repeatedly and the parties give up. Sometimes the pension-holding spouse retires and starts collecting benefits before the QDRO is entered.

If the participant receives payments that should have been divided, the alternate payee can pursue enforcement. The participant might have to reimburse the amounts. But if the participant spent the money, collection becomes difficult.

One divorce settlement required the husband to cooperate with QDRO preparation. He didn’t respond. Didn’t provide required pension documents. Two years passed. He retired and started collecting $6,400 monthly. The ex-wife was entitled to $1,900 monthly. She went back to court. The judge ordered him to pay the arrearage of $45,600 plus ongoing payments. He filed for bankruptcy.

## Why You Need an Attorney Who Understands Pension Division

Pension division requires technical knowledge of QDRO drafting, familiarity with specific pension plan rules, and understanding of the financial implications. Using incorrect language costs months or years of delay. Failing to protect survivor benefits can cost hundreds of thousands in lost future income.

NYC pension cases require attorneys who know the difference between NYCERS and TRS QDRO requirements, who understand how early retirement subsidies work in FDNY pensions, and who can calculate whether a present value offset makes sense compared to ongoing payments.

Spodek Law Group represents clients in pension division cases throughout New York City. We work with QDRO specialists and actuaries to ensure pension division orders get approved and enforced. Our attorneys handle cases involving all NYC pension systems plus private sector retirement plans. Available 24/7 because pension deadlines and retirement dates don’t wait for business hours.