Tag Archives: retirement plans

You Snooze – You Lose!

After your divorce, it is important to change your beneficiary information on your accounts and policies to reflect your then-current intentions, so long as you are not violating any parts of your Divorce Agreement by doing so. There is a good post about this issue by Boston Attorney Lisa Cukier, as a guest blogger on the Massachusetts Divorce Law Monitor blog.  Click here to go to the post. As pointed out in the post, language in your Divorce Agreement concerning your ex-spouse’s waiver alone will likely be ineffective, so don’t forget to update your beneficiary designations on your accounts and [...]

Posted in Divorce, Family and Divorce Financials | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Retirement Plans – Defined Benefit vs. Defined Contribution

An important part of a divorce case is identifying and dividing up a couple’s marital property.  Within the marital estate, retirement plans frequently are one of the most valuable asset classes.   A qualified retirement plan is one that satisfies numerous requirements set forth by the IRS and ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act of  1974.  Qualified plans take advantage of a number of tax benefits.  The two main categories of qualified plans are the defined contribution plan and the defined benefit plan.

Posted in Divorce, Family and Divorce Financials, Property Division | Tagged , | Leave a comment