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QDRO Masters at the Willick Law Group has been asked to review hundreds of QDROs to ensure its provisions satisfy not only local and federal law, but plan requirements for “qualification.” The vast majority of these reviews result in either significant corrections, or a redrafting of the Order altogether.

Effective QDRO Counsel

The reason it is so dangerous for practitioners who have done just a few of these, often long ago, is that they can come back to bite you. Marshal S. Willick, Esq., Principal of the Willick Law Group, and founder of QDRO Masters has detailed these problems in a multitude of continuing legal education seminars. The “discovery rule” basically extends until the retirement or death of the member/participant, which starts the statute of limitations for pursuing counsel for any errors in retirement orders. Many courts have held attorneys 100 percent responsible for getting it right and concluded that the measure of damages is 100 percent of any benefits lost. Damages frequently exceed $100,000 – because the pensions were so valuable to begin with.

The danger is even derivative – many lawyers choose to send out QDROs to faceless mail order services, or actuaries, or other non- attorney preparers. Despite this “transfer”, many attorneys have been held to remain liable for the resulting work product. QDRO Masters at the Willick Law Group corrects numerous non-attorney preparer errors each year – some big and some small.

It is that sort of potential that makes these cases so dangerous for counsel – every defective pension division order can remain a ticking time bomb for decades. In recent years, the great majority of Mr. Willick’s expert testimony work has been for plaintiffs or defendants in pension and survivorship interests attorney malpractice cases.