Plan Administrative Fees to Process a QDRO

Summary:  Although our fees remain in the $275 to $350 range, a recent change in federal law now allows a retirement plan administrator to charge a reasonable fee to review a QDRO to see if it is a valid court order for plan division purposes. Fees of $300 to $1,300 are now charged by some plans.Some plans have hourly charges of $250/hour.

What is the Cost for a Retirement Plan Administrator to Process a QDRO?

A recent change to federal law now allows a retirement plan administrator to charge a "reasonable" free to review and determine whether a QDRO can be processed as a valid court order.

Although some retirement plans still do not charge anything, some are now charging $300 to $1,300 per QDRO to review them. If the QDRO has to be revised, additional charges can apply.

So, a QDRO should probably include an allocation (such as 50-50) of the cost of any such review fee.

And the initial draft should be done carefully to avoid any additional fees for the need to review a revision.

Our fees in 2014 are still $275 (401(k), 403(b), PERA) to $350 (pension monthly payments) for drafting the plans and getting preliminary approval, even though some of the plan "review" fees charged by the plan administrators greatly exceed our fees for doing the work.