QDRO Preparer · free · every plan type
The divorce divided the retirement.
This order makes it real.
A guided, plain-English preparer that assembles a draft retirement-division order for a divorce decree entered in any of the 50 states or the District of Columbia - built from each plan’s own official model language, with every legal choice explained and left to you. Free for every plan type. Nothing you type is stored unless you save it to a matter, encrypted in your browser.
Why the decree alone isn’t enough
When a divorce divides a pension or retirement account, the decree settles the matter between the spouses - but the retirement plan itself won’t send anyone a dime because of it. Plans are only allowed to pay a former spouse when they receive their own kind of court order: a QDRO for private plans, or the government equivalents - a PERS order, a military division order, a federal COAP or TSP order. Until that order exists and the plan accepts it, the share the decree awarded is a promise with no plumbing.
That follow-up order is what this preparer assembles. It walks you through the questions the official model for your plan requires, explains in plain language what each choice means - including the survivor-benefit decisions people most often get burned by - and produces a Word draft formatted for the court, ready for review. The public retirement systems of all 50 states and DC are covered, each on its own model order or form - Nevada PERS, CalPERS and CalSTRS, Texas TRS, Florida FRS and their peers, listed in the wizard by the state you choose - and the six federal-law plan types may be drafted for a decree entered in any state, with you (or your attorney) supplying that state’s marital-property framing.
Which plan do I have?
Each kind of plan is divided by its own kind of order. The pay stub or the plan statement almost always answers it:
| The job / account | The clue | The order it needs |
|---|---|---|
| A state or local government pension (state, county, city, school, police, fire) | Pay stub shows a retirement-system deduction (PERS, TRS, ERS and their peers); the system's annual statement | The system's own domestic relations order - the wizard lists the systems for the state you choose (in Nevada, the PERS order under NRS 286.6703) |
| Private-employer account with a balance - 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) | Statement shows an account balance at Fidelity, Vanguard, Empower, etc. | QDRO (29 U.S.C. 1056(d)(3)) |
| Private company pension (a promised monthly check) | Statement promises a monthly benefit at retirement age, not a balance | QDRO (29 U.S.C. 1056(d)(3)) |
| Military service - active, Reserve/Guard, or retired | myPay / Leave and Earnings Statement; DFAS Retiree Account Statement | Military retired pay division order (10 U.S.C. 1408) |
| Federal civilian job (post office, VA, agencies) | Pay stub shows FERS or CSRS deduction | Court Order Acceptable for Processing / COAP (5 CFR part 838) |
| Thrift Savings Plan - the federal 401(k) | Account and statements at tsp.gov | Retirement Benefits Court Order / RBCO (5 CFR part 1653) |
| IRA at a bank or brokerage | Account titled IRA / Roth IRA / rollover IRA in one spouse's name | Transfer incident to divorce in the decree (26 U.S.C. 408(d)(6)) - no QDRO exists for an IRA |
What this tool is
- Document assembly, not invention. Your own elections, placed into the official model language for your plan - nothing invented, every clause tied to its source.
- Plain-English at every step. Each legal fork shows the options, what each means in practice, and the statute or rule behind it. You choose; it types.
- For counsel and self-represented filers. Attorneys enter their bar number and firm; a party without a lawyer chooses “I am representing myself” and the draft identifies you in proper person, the standard format for filers without a lawyer.
- Free, and private by architecture. No charge for anything. Answers are never stored or logged by the generator; save to a matter and they are kept only in a container encrypted in your browser; Social Security numbers are never requested for a Nevada or federal-plan order (three state systems’ own forms require them, on the attorney path, and a saved matter keeps them inside that encrypted container).
What it is not
- Not legal advice, and not a lawyer. It cannot weigh the facts, spot what’s missing from the decree, or say which option is wise in a given case. It presents; you elect.
- Not a filing service. It produces a draft. You (or your attorney) review it, obtain the plan administrator’s preapproval, and submit it to the court.
- Not a form mill that always says yes. Where the official sources provide no reliable model - a PERS pension already in pay, a military disability retirement - it refuses, tells you why, and says plainly that the order needs a lawyer.
- Not a guarantee of acceptance. Every plan reviews orders against its own procedures; preapproval before the judge signs is the honest path, and the tool steers you to it.
The preparer
Your answers are sent once, over TLS, to the deterministic generator, which assembles the document in memory and streams it straight back. The generator stores, logs, and retains nothing - when the download finishes, its copy is gone.
Not retained: answers, including any Social Security numbers, are not kept unless the packet is saved to a matter - open or start one below.
Before you begin
A few honest ground rules
- This is document assembly, not legal advice. The tool puts the elections you make into the official model language for the plan. It never chooses for you, and it cannot say what is best in a given case - only a lawyer who knows the case can do that.
- Your decree comes first. The order you create here has to match what the divorce decree or settlement actually says. Have the decree in front of you.
- Some situations are refused on purpose. Where the official sources provide no reliable model - a PERS pension already in pay, a military disability retirement, and others - the tool stops and says so instead of guessing. Those situations need a lawyer.
- Nothing you type is stored unless you save it to a matter, encrypted in your browser. Your answers exist on this page and in the single request that builds your document; the generator saves and logs nothing. Signed in, you may save the packet to a matter - the answers are then encrypted in your browser with a key derived from your password before they are stored, and only your password or recovery key can decrypt them. Social Security numbers are never asked for on a Nevada or federal-plan order; the state retirement systems whose own paper requires the complete numbers ask for them (on the attorney path, except Alaska, whose court forms take them on both paths), and a saved matter keeps them inside that encrypted container - see the privacy policy for the list.
You will need about 20 minutes, the divorce decree, and a recent statement from the retirement plan. A free account (email + password, nothing else) is required to run the preparer - the education on this page stays open to everyone.
Free. No card, no upsell - the account only stops automated abuse of the generator.
Common questions
The QDRO Preparer, answered
- What does the FreeQDRO Preparer cost?
- Nothing. Every plan type, every download, free. A free account (email and password only) is required to run the generator; all of the education on this page is open without one. There is no paid upgrade hiding behind the button.
- Is this legal advice?
- No. It is document assembly: the tool places the elections you make into the official model language for the plan - the Nevada PERS model order, the IRS/DOL QDRO guidance, the DFAS sample language, the OPM model paragraphs, the TSP model order. It never recommends a choice and cannot say what is best in a given case. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed attorney in the state that entered the decree.
- Can I use it if I don't have a lawyer?
- Yes. The preparer serves counsel and a party filing in proper person alike. A party representing themselves chooses that option and the draft identifies the filer in proper person on the decree state's own pleading paper (in Nevada, for example, the standard district-court format for self-represented parties). Courts accept filings from self-represented parties every day, and most family courts staff a center for them.
- Does it store my information?
- Not unless you save it to a matter. Your answers live in your browser while the page is open and are sent once to the document generator, which builds the document in memory and keeps nothing - no database, no logs of your details. If you are signed in and save the packet to a matter, the answers are encrypted in your browser with a key derived from your password before they are stored, and only your password or recovery key can decrypt them; we cannot. Social Security numbers are never requested for a Nevada or federal-plan order (the plan gets them under separate cover); the three state retirement systems whose own forms require them (New Jersey NJSEDCP, Massachusetts c. 32, Tennessee TCRS) ask for them on the attorney path only, and when a packet is saved to a matter they are kept inside that encrypted container so the order can be regenerated without retyping them. Without a matter, close the page and everything is gone.
- Will the court and the plan accept the document?
- The draft is built from each plan's own official model language and formatted on the decree state's pleading paper (or, for a state whose format is not yet built in, in a generic court format) - but no generator can promise acceptance, because every plan reviews orders against its own procedures and every case is different. That is why the tool tells you, at every turn, to get the plan administrator's preapproval of the draft before the judge signs, and to consider an attorney's review.
- Which states does it cover?
- All fifty states and the District of Columbia. The wizard asks which state entered the decree first; the plan picker then lists that state's public retirement systems, each drafted on the system's own model order or form and on the state's own pleading paper, beside the federal-law plans (401(k)/pension QDROs, military retired-pay orders, CSRS/FERS COAPs, TSP orders, IRA transfer provisions), which may be drafted for a decree from any state. A state system not yet built is shown as staged with the reason, never approximated.
- What situations does it refuse?
- Ones where the official sources provide no reliable model: a Nevada PERS pension already in pay status, military members who entered service before September 8, 1980, Chapter 61 military disability retirements, carving a separate interest out of a private pension already being paid, and several others. In each case the tool stops, explains why in plain language, and says the honest thing: that order needs a lawyer.
- What is out of scope?
- A state or local retirement system the wizard lists as staged: the plan picker lists the systems built for the state you choose, and a system still under research answers with the reason it is not yet offered rather than an approximation. Also military members who entered service before September 8, 1980, and Chapter 61 disability divisions. The wizard says so instead of generating an approximation - a wrong order is worse than no order.