Q: Does interest on a post divorce related money judgment accrue from the divorce date or judgment date?
Michigan Divorce was 5/2017 and 401k was part of settlement. However neither of us pursued the QDRO for over 2 years. 2019 I became unemployed at which point I had to access the 401k funds. As a result my x spouse filed a motion and a money judgment was awarded to her for half of the original 401k balance on 5/2019. I’m about 3 months from paying off the judgment however noticed her attorney added interest back to the divorce date in 2017. Shouldn’t interest be accrued from the judgment date 5/2019? The difference is thousands. The judgment does not stipulate.
A:
Typically, judgment interest accrues from the date judgment is entered. In your case, the judgment that matters is the divorce judgment. The QDRO is simply a mechanism to enforce or effectuate the judgment, so it's date does not matter.
Judgment interest is intended of course to induce prompt payment. If they went off the QDRO date - even though it sounds to be a mutual decision to let it linger two years - people would have reason to further delay it.
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