QDRO Services For Attorneys — Tiered Model

Choose how much you hand off. We fit into your workflow.

Family law attorneys refer QDRO work to us for different reasons and with different expectations. Some want us to manage the client entirely — intake, communication, plan coordination, and follow-through to final distribution. Others have an organized file ready to go and just need a technically precise drafter and plan pre-approval specialist who will hand the matter back cleanly at court entry.

We work both ways. And the fee reflects it. Learn more about our comprehensive QDRO process and why we aren’t a high-volume “document mill.”

Three Ways To Work With Us

Our process runs eight steps from intake to final plan approval. Where you want to hand off — and how much you bring to us upfront — determines which model makes sense for your matter.

Tier 1: Full Service — We Run Everything

• You refer the client. We handle all of it: intake, document collection, drafting, plan pre-approval, client communication, signatures, court entry coordination, certified copy, and final submission to the plan.
• Best for: clients who are not organized, have no plan statements ready, or need significant hand-holding through the process.
• What you provide: client contact information and the MSA (or a heads-up that it’s coming).
• What you get back: a completed matter, closed when the plan confirms receipt. You are copied throughout.
• Pricing: standard flat fee. The fee reflects the full overhead of managing a client starting from scratch.

Tier 2: Draft And Pre-Approve — You Handle The Back End

• You bring us a clean file: We draft the order, handle plan pre-approval, and return an approved draft ready for signatures. You handle Steps 5–8: signatures, court entry, certified copy, and submission to the plan.
• Best for: attorneys with an organized client, a complete MSA, current plan statements, and the infrastructure to manage court entry.
• What you provide: MSA, plan documents and statements, client contact, any plan-specific instructions.
• What you get back: a plan-pre-approved DRO ready to execute, with a cover memo explaining the plan’s submission requirements.
• Pricing: reduced flat fee. You are taking on the back-end steps; our scope ends at the approved draft.

Tier 3: Consulting And Review Only

• You have a draft: You want a specialist’s review before your client signs or before it goes to the plan.
• Best for: attorneys who drafted their own order or are reviewing a draft from the other side.
• What you provide: the draft order, the MSA, and any plan documents available.
• What you get back: a written review memo identifying issues and recommended corrections.
• Pricing: flat fee or hourly depending on complexity. Available on request.

Why The Clean File Gets A Lower Fee

A significant part of what we charge in the full-service model is not the drafting — it’s intake management. Getting a recently divorced client to locate plan statements, complete intake forms, sign an engagement agreement, and submit payment before we can open a file takes real time. Sometimes weeks and multiple follow-ups.

An attorney who hands us a complete file eliminates that overhead entirely. We move directly to reviewing plan documents and drafting. Faster, cleaner, less resource-intensive — and we price it accordingly.

The question to ask before referring: is this client organized and ready to move, or still in the fog of their divorce? The answer tells you which tier makes sense.

The Most Valuable Conversation Is Before The MSA Is Signed

If you involve us before the marital settlement agreement is finalized, we can review your retirement asset language and flag anything the plan can’t process. This is where the most expensive QDRO errors originate — not in the drafting, but in the agreement language the drafting has to work from.

Pre-decree consulting is available on an hourly basis. It is the most cost-effective service we offer for the protection it provides.

We are happy to get on a call before the MSA is finalized and tell you in 15 minutes whether the retirement asset language is going to work. That conversation costs less than fixing a problem after entry.

Offset And Equalization Calculations

When multiple retirement accounts are being divided, it’s tempting to reduce the number of QDROs by offsetting values — assigning a larger share of one account to balance out another, rather than dividing each plan separately. We handle these calculations when parties have agreed to the approach. The sample language we use and the pre-decree considerations are available on request.

Why We Often Advise Against Offsets On Larger Balances

Offsets sound efficient and often are. But they carry real risk that most settlement agreements underweight:

• Market movement during the weeks-to-months QDRO process cannot be tracked across multiple accounts — only the account being used for the assignment has gains and losses calculated on it.
• Pre-tax and post-tax dollars cannot be equalized directly (Roth and non-Roth components cannot offset each other).
• Only vested balances can be considered.
• Clients who start with an equalization approach often find, at the QDRO review stage, that the assigned amount no longer matches the current balances of the accounts — and they’re unhappy with the result.

For larger account balances, the default better practice is to divide each account individually. The dollars “saved” on a single additional QDRO draft are often fractions of the dollars at stake in the underlying accounts.

What’s Required If Parties Proceed With An Offset

Both parties must agree to the approach and agree on a specific historical date when all account balances will be captured for the calculation. We work from those balances to determine the single-account assignment.

Pre-MSA Consulting Is The Cheapest Version Of This Conversation

If you’re drafting a marital settlement agreement that contemplates an offset, the most valuable time to involve us is before the MSA is signed. We can review your retirement asset language, flag what the plans can and cannot support, and help you decide whether an offset serves your client or creates risk they haven’t priced in. Pre-decree consulting is available on an hourly basis and is consistently the most cost-effective service we offer for the protection it provides.

Note: The Law Offices Of Anne Schmidt, LLC, does not provide tax advice or financial services. Clients should consult their accountant and other relevant professionals in this regard.

Plan Types We Handle

We draft and review orders for any employer-sponsored plan in the United States subject to ERISA, federal regulations, or state law — along with the non-plan assets that move with them (IRAs, executive compensation, stock awards). Plans that regularly give other preparers trouble:

• Illinois state pensions: SERS, TRS, IMRF, MEABF, CTPF, Cook County, Chicago Police and Fire — each with its own QILDRO rules and survivor benefit structure
• Federal retirement plans: FERS, CSRS, TSP (Court Orders Acceptable for Processing / COAPs)
• Military retirement: USFSPA orders, survivor benefit plan elections, DFAS submission
• Railroad Retirement Board divisions
• Nonqualified deferred compensation plans — not governed by ERISA; require a different legal framework
• Executive compensation: stock options, RSUs, SARs, and incentive plans incident to divorce
• Union pension plans with trustee boards and their own approval procedures
• Out-of-state plans requiring Illinois filing of a foreign judgment for a QILDRO or QCO
• Cash balance plans, ESOPs, and other less common qualified plan structures

How To Refer A Matter

The simplest way to start is a phone call or email with the basics: the plan type, whether you have an MSA ready, and how organized the client is. We copy you on all substantive communications. We do not go around you. Your client relationship stays yours.

We have been the behind-the-scenes QDRO resource for family law attorneys at firms throughout Illinois and across the country for more than a decade. The attorneys who work with us regularly know they can call with a question before they even have a file.

To discuss a current matter or set up a standing referral arrangement, call 847-926-7679 or email the firm directly.