ERISA Benefits Law Desk ReferenceERISA Benefits Tech, LLC

Part 12 · Chapter 2

DB and DC Division Design and Drafting

Law stated as of October 3, 2026 · QDROs and Division of Retirement Benefits

Scope and status

This chapter covers the design layer of retirement-benefit division, drawing on primary authority and on the Firm's QDRO drafting practice: the defined contribution division formats (valuation dates, gains/losses, loans, premarital money), the defined benefit approaches (separate interest vs. shared interest, the coverture/time-rule marital fraction, survivor protection, subsidies and COLAs), and the death and remarriage matrix. Division design is where value is actually won or lost: qualification (chapter 1 of this Part) is pass/fail, while design allocates dollars.

The statutory hooks are in the qualification chapter (Code §414(p)(4)–(5) especially); this chapter's design content is Firm drafting practice consistent with plan-administration norms and is tagged accordingly. Related questions are treated elsewhere: qualification/procedure in the qualification/administration chapter; taxation and the non-ERISA regimes in the taxation/special-regimes chapter; and the per-plan quick reference in the Plan-Type Division Map in this Part's Practice Tools.

Threshold framing (the order of the questions). (1) Plan type — account balance or monthly benefit; (2) retirement status — the single fact that most constrains DB design (a post-retirement QDRO cannot change the elected form of benefit); (3) the division instruction — formula, percentage, or dollar amount, as of what date; (4) identifiers and the exact plan name (verified against a statement and the Form 5500); (5) survivor/death treatment. An intake that cannot answer (3) is not ready — the calculation (marital-portion tracing, offsets) is a separate analytic task that precedes drafting.

Sections

The opening sections of Part A are shown in full. The other sections are listed by title; their text is available to subscribers.

Part A — Defined Contribution Division

A1.The four division formats

Part 12, ch. 2, § A1

Every DC award is one of four formats, and the choice allocates investment risk and administrative burden:

  1. Dollar amount as of a specific past date — adjusted for gains/losses from that date to the transfer date.
  2. Percentage as of a specific past date — adjusted for gains/losses; loan treatment must be specified.
  3. Flat dollar amount as of the transfer date — no adjustment; the alternate payee bears no market risk and gets no growth.
  4. Percentage as of the transfer date — gains/losses run through automatically; loan treatment must be specified. The "as of" date is typically the date of service of process, the decree date, or a settlement-specified date. Firm drafting practice; the plan administers whatever compliant instruction the order states — Code §414(p)(2)(B) requires only that amount or manner be clearly specified.
  1. A2Loans, vesting, and premarital moneySubscribers
  2. A3Implementation mechanicsSubscribers

Part B — Defined Benefit Division

  1. B1Separate interest vs. shared interest — the controlling design choiceSubscribers
  2. B2The marital fraction (time rule) and the alternativesSubscribers
  3. B3Subsidies, COLAs, and actuarial detailsSubscribers
  4. B4Do not present-value a pension into an offset casuallySubscribers

Part C — The Death and Remarriage Matrix

The first Part of each chapter is open to everyone. The remaining sections, with their authority and practice points, are available to subscribers and to clients of ERISA Benefits Law Group, PLLC whose engagement includes access.

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