Got married in 2022. I am a 40 (F), and will be filing for divorce by the end of March. We got married in April of 2022, and I worked at this job from 8/2020-May 2023. I have a small retirement fund from this job. Will he be entitled to any of that? What are the rules/precedents with that?
It depends on what state you live in. Where I live you have to be married more than 10 years to be able to draw from a spouse’s retirement fund.
Anything accumulated during the marriage is fair game. Anything prior is generally considered to be non-communal assets unless the marriage lasted for a very long time.
Good lawyer advice. When I divorced they looked at which 401k was bigger and divided the difference.
I am a lawyer, but not your lawyer. I don’t know Illinois law on this topic, but I do know negotiated settlements.
Make him an offer you think is fair. He’s likely entitled to half of what you’ve put in since April 2022, but you are entitled to half of any of his retirement savings during that same time period. The way you divide assets is essentially up to you in a negotiated divorce. The money you give him (or vice versa) doesn’t have to come from the retirement account.
When I divorced after a short marriage in Missouri, I offered a one-time payment of $18k for his interest in my 401k (my employer contribution was bigger than his and my contribution was more than he had been contributing to his 401k) and his interest in the home I owned prior to marriage.
This comment is empty, admin should fix
Sydney said:
This comment is empty, admin should fix
Your post or comment has been reported as generally bad or inaccurate advice. Inaccurate legal advice identified by the community or an attorney as wrong and misleading to others. You posted an incorrect statement or conclusion of law. Your advice is inapplicable for the jurisdiction under discussion. You misunderstood the fundamental legal question. Failure to follow rules could get you banned or suspended from the subreddit.
Sydney said:
This comment is empty, admin should fix
Agreed. Sometimes with these short marriages it’s going to cost more to nickel and dime to figure out what you owe each other and judge will just say everybody keeps their personal possession.
My ex had a retirement account for just a couple years at the end of marriage that was only worth a couple thousand and wasn’t worth bringing into divorce settlements
Hugs talk to a lawyer. The cutoff in the 80s was 10 years to qualify for a partnership retirement. Also, talk with your HR. The only reason I know the time frame is my 1st husband was military.
They would most likely only be entitled to half of your retirement that was earned during the marriage.
From Google:
No, Illinois is not a community property state. Instead, Illinois is an equitable property state, which means that judges divide property in a divorce based on what’s fair. Explanation In an equitable property state, judges consider many factors when dividing property, including each party’s financial needs, debts, and future income. Judges usually reject agreements that are one-sided or unfair to one spouse. Courts generally don’t consider fault when dividing property, such as if one spouse was unfaithful. However, there are exceptions. Marital property includes property purchased or appraised while a couple is married. This includes bank accounts, pensions, retirement plans, and more.
If you didn’t add him to the fund, just the amount added during the marriage is martial money
EmmanuelBrown said:
If you didn’t add him to the fund, just the amount added during the marriage is martial money
Would we have to move into litigation for that? We don’t have any kids and both want a simple divorce. Neither of us have funds for lawyers.
@Quincy
If you agree, you don’t need mediation or litigation. Do a non-contested divorce that says you both keep your personal assets and debts. If they are going to go after you for this retirement account make sure you add up every single asset they have. Bring up that they may actually owe you money and they may drop it and just sign the non-contested
@Quincy
You don’t have to split any assets any particular way if this is an agreed divorce. You only litigate if you can’t come to an agreement. Do either of you plan to hire an attorney to draft and file your paperwork?
EmmanuelBrown said:
If you didn’t add him to the fund, just the amount added during the marriage is martial money
So we have to split that?
EmmanuelBrown said:
If you didn’t add him to the fund, just the amount added during the marriage is martial money
So we have to split that?
Why not just make a proposal that he agrees to that you keep your shit and your debt and he keeps his shit and his debt and move on? This seems like the reasonable thing to do. You guys go to arbitration and do exactly this n
@Beck
Yeah if you two can agree to just keeping your own accounts and debts, it’s fine. Otherwise, if you contributed to that account during the marriage and don’t have clear records of its value before the marriage, he can probably get half of it.
@AZRAH
Half of what it increased in value while married. He gets zero of the account prior to the marriage
@Beck
This whole thing is a racket. I hope you meet a nice divorced man one day so you can both co-habitate or keep your own places and have a loving great relationship without all of the bullshit that marriage adds to it. I have seen more people happy on long-term committed relationships like this than marriage. By factors of like 20-1