Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce - Emily Doskow [100]
The summary plan description should state the requirements for preparing a QMCSO. The order must state at a minimum:
• the name and last known mailing address of the participant (the employee spouse) and the name and mailing address of each child with a right to receive coverage
• a description of the type of coverage to be provided by the plan (for example, "group health and dental insurance")
• the period of time that coverage is to be provided, and
• the name of each plan to which the order applies (the plan administrator or a human resources employee at your spouse's company can give you this information if you don't already have it).
You'll need to prepare the order in time to have it signed along with the rest of the paperwork for your divorce. If you're preparing the order yourself, you can ask the human resources people or the plan administrator at the employer to review it before you submit it to the court, and give you a letter saying it meets with their approval. That way you won't have them later saying that it's not a valid order.
See what it looks like. There's a sample QMCSO in Divorce & Money: How to Make the Best Financial Decisions During Divorce, by Violet Woodhouse with Dale Fetherling (Nolo).
You can keep your health insurance, too. If you have been covered under your spouse's insurance and you don't have other coverage of your own, you are entitled to continue your coverage for up to three years under a federal law called COBRA. That law is discussed in detail in Chapter 11.
Taking Inventory .........................................................................................................................230
What Do You Own? ..............................................................................................................230
What Do You Owe? ...............................................................................................................230
What Property Gets Divided ...............................................................................................231
Marital Property ...................................................................................................................... 231
Separate Property ...................................................................................................................232
Identifying Community Property ....................................................................................233
Getting Financial Information ...........................................................................................234
Is Your Spouse Hiding Assets? ............................................................................................236
Red Flags ......................................................................................................................................236
What You Can Do ..................................................................................................................237
ost of us own a lot of stuff. And from houses to hostess towels, everything that you own-along with all of your obligations-must be accounted for in your divorce. Even property that you had before you were married and that you consider to be yours separately must be identified and included in the process.
This chapter will help you finalize your inventory of assets and obligations and give you the basics of what property will be divided between you and your spouse. The next chapter explains how the property can be divvied up by you and your spouse, or if that fails, by a judge.
Taking Inventory
If you filled out the property inventory forms discussed in Chapter 2, you already have some idea of what there is to divide, on both the credit and debit sides of the ledger. Now it's time to take a closer look. And if you haven't done those worksheets yet, now is the time.
What Do You Own?
Your asset list should include everything that belongs to you or your spouse, whether the property is shared or is one person's alone, and