As a pension Plan administrator, I am in the process of calculating a pension for a recent retiree. Said retiree is divorced with a Divorce Judgement on file. According to this document, the ex-wife shall receive the sum of $800 per month for the lifetime of the retiree. I was contacted by the ex-wifes' attorney recently and he informed me that the two parties in the Divorce judgement now have an oral agreement stipulating that the ex-wife will receive $300 per month as opposed to $800 per month. The lawyer requested information on the retiree's pension amount in order to 'calculate' the amount owed to wife and draw up a QDRO. Which, is very confusing considering they agreed to a set dollar amount, eliminating the need for calcuating a percentage of his pension.

At any rate, his pension will begin soon, should I retain $300 per month in anticipation of the forthcoming QDRO? Or $800 per month as per the Divorce Judgement? Or nothing until receipt of QDRO? Because this is a NON-ERISA Plan. does the 18 month QDRO determination period apply?

Please clarify what you mean by a non-ERISA plan. Is it is a plan that is not qualified and exempt from most ERISA requirements as a top-hat plan or is it something else?

If so, you are left to plan terms and policies adopted by the plan to determine how to process the retirement payments while matters are worked out in the marital settlement and thereafter. If the plan does not have them, now is the time for designing and adopting them. The plan may choose to follow some principles that govern qualified plans, and there are some good reasons to do so. But there are some differences, including tax consequences, that need different treatment.