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Ken_Systems
How should a qualified DC plan treat a "QDRO" that an NRA participant undergoes?
LCARUSI
What's an NRA participant?
Ken_Systems
A Non-Resident Alien employee who is allowed to participate in the plan.
pax
Not sure what you mean by a "QDRO that a participant undergoes".

Not aware of any exception to the QDRO rules for non-resident aliens. The answer seems to be that the plan sponsor has the same responsibilities as in the case of any other QDRO:
1. Make sure the DRO is a QDRO.
2. Abide by the terms of the QDRO.
KIP KRAUS
Good call Pax. I agree. If the DRO is determined to be a QDRO and is filed in a U.S. court, the plan must abide by it's terms.
I'm no attorney, but if a DRO comes from a foreign court the plan may be able to ignore it. If it did come from a foreign court, you should check with an attorney.

The ironic thing about allowing expatriates to participate in U.S. pension and welfar plan, they have to take the good eith the bad just like us colonists.
PeterGulia
A court is a QDRO only if, along with other requirements, the order is a domestic. ERISA provides that a domestic relations order is an order "made pursuant to a State domestic relations law ...." ERISA 206(d)(3)(B)(ii)(II); see also IRC 414(p)(1)(B)(ii).

ERISA defines the term State to include "any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Wake Island, and the Canal Zone." ERISA 3(10). The IRC provides only that the term State "shall be construed to include the District of Columbia where such construction is necessary to carry out provisions of [the Code]." IRC 7701(a)(10).

If a State court recognizes a foreign nation's judgment in a marriage or similar domestic relations matter and makes its own order consistent with the State's domestic relations law, that State court order might be a DRO that can be determined to be a QDRO.

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Ken_Systems
Thanks, all. This is what I was looking for.
KIP KRAUS
That's very interesting PeterGulia, but how would one know if such an Order is accepted by a state? Have you ever heard of such a case?
pax
good question Kip. but the anwswer is probably very simple: the state court issues a valid order that attaches (and explains if necessary) the foreign order.

However, it seems unprofessional and unlikely that any judge (other than one who is extremely lazy) would ever do that.
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