ERISA Tips: Handling Domestic Relations Orders

ERISA imposes a number of responsibilities on the plan administrator relating to the handling of domestic relations orders. 

 

As a plan fiduciary, the administrator is required to discharge these responsibilities prudently and solely in the interest of the plan’s participants and beneficiaries. It is the DOL’s view that the prudent discharge of a fiduciary’s responsibilities regarding the handling of domestic relations orders, like other areas of plan administration, requires plan administrators to take steps to avoid unnecessary and excessive administrative burdens and costs to the plan. 

 

The DOL believes that the adoption of procedures and policies designed to facilitate, rather than impede, the timely processing and perfection of domestic relations orders generally will serve to minimize plan burdens and costs attendant to QDRO determinations.

Editor’s Note: ERISA Tips is a feature provided with you in mind — to make the newsletter more useful to you! If you have any content for ERISA Tips or the NTSA Advisor that you would like to contribute or suggest, please contact John Iekel, editor of the NTSA Advisor, at [email protected]