Qualified Domestic Relations Order
A QDRO is a legal order, separate from a divorce decree, that instructs a retirement plan administrator on how to divide a 401(k) or pension between divorcing spouses.
Without an approved QDRO, an awarded share of the account is never actually transferred — the divorce decree alone does not move any money out of an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
Your divorce papers might say you get half the 401(k), but the plan administrator won't actually move a dollar until a separate, specific legal order — the QDRO — is drafted and approved.
What needs a QDRO, what doesn't, and the mistakes that cost people their share.