Q: if i have a judgement for divorce not signed by a judge does it mean i am not divorced?
I have never received my Final Judgement of Divorce and now I am ready to apply for several QUADROs for retirement plans. however i understand i need a signed Final Judgement of Divorce by a judge in order to obtain my share of CalPers retirements of my 30 year marriage. How can I do this? what do i need? am i not really divorced? i live in central point, Oregon and he lives in santa fe springs, California. can i obtain a lawyer here in Oregon or do i need to go to california
A:
WHOA! You may have a serious problem and your question is not asking what you need to know. If this is an Oregon divorce Oregon Law will not allow further property division once a divorce is final. So in order to get a QDRO done post divorce, the divorce decree/judgment needs to have language that states that the court will have continuing jurisdiction to enter a limited Judgment for the QDRO following the divorce.
I have no idea what you mean you have an unsigned Judgment. There is no judgment until the Judgment document is signed by a Judge. However, what you have may just be a copy of the document that was sent to the court for signature and the Judge might have signed the original Judgment and then it got filed with the court. You just need to ask the court of a court certified copy of the Judgment BUT SEE MY WARNING ABOVE - IF THE JUDGMENT DOESN'T HAVE THE LANGUAGE RESERVING JURISDICTION YOU MAY NEED TO GET AN ATTORNEY TO FILE A MOTION TO SET ASIDE THE JUDGMENT AND FIX IT!
Finally you can't just send a Divorce Judgment to your husband's retirement and everything gets fixed. A qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) is a very specialize document that must be drafted by a specialist so that it meets the strict IRS tax requirements. If this is not done correctly you risk finding out that you don't get your share of the retirement years from now. There are Attorneys who specialize in drawing up this special Judgment that the court needs to sign. HIRE ONE!
My comments apply to a divorce in Oregon. There may be similarities with how things are done in a California divorce but I don't practice in California so you will need to consult a California Attorney. Get a family law attorney in the State where your divorce was filed to make sure the Judgment was written correctly and got signed by the court and get a second Attorney that specializes only in QDRO's to handle the QDRO.
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