We prepare the order that actually divides the retirement account after the decree is signed. For family law counsel in Lucas County and Northwest Ohio, on a flat fee, with free redrafting until the plan accepts it.
Current to the Lucas County Domestic Relations local rules effective January 1, 2026.
The right document depends entirely on what kind of plan holds the money. We identify it, prepare it, and see it through to acceptance.
Private pensions, 401(k) and profit sharing plans, ESOPs, union multiemployer funds, 403(b) plans and terminated plans now trusteed by the PBGC.
OPERS, STRS, SERS, Ohio Police and Fire, the Highway Patrol system and university Alternative Retirement Plans. These take a uniform state form, not a QDRO.
The state 457(b) plan is divided by a different instrument again, on the plan's own model order and submitted on its own route.
Court Orders Acceptable for Processing for CSRS and FERS annuities, and Retirement Benefits Court Orders for the Thrift Savings Plan.
Pension division orders under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act, the separate Survivor Benefit Plan election order, and Railroad Retirement partitions.
A read of somebody else's draft before it is filed, or after a plan has rejected it, with a written note of what needs to change.
A defective retirement order usually does not announce itself. It sits in a file until retirement or a death, sometimes a decade later, and by then the window to fix it has often closed. This is narrow, unforgiving work, and it is all we do.
Before anything is drafted we confirm which document the plan will actually accept, and tell you in writing if the decree does not say clearly enough what was divided.
Wherever the plan or system pre-approves drafts, the order goes to them first. Fixing a defect at that stage costs a week. Fixing it after entry costs a motion.
The execution-ready order, the language your judgment entry needs, the Local Rule 31 certification, a transmittal letter and filing instructions.
Revisions are free. A redraft after a plan rejects the order is free. The flat fee is the whole fee.
Our drafting time is five business days, three on a rush. Everything after that belongs to the plan administrator or the court, and anyone promising an accepted order in a fixed number of days is describing only the part they control.
You send the decree and the plan details through a private link. We confirm the instrument and raise any ambiguity in writing before drafting starts.
We request the plan document, the summary plan description, the plan's own written procedures and the current statement.
Rush drafting in three business days is available.
The draft goes to the plan or system before the judge signs. Expect fifteen to sixty days here, entirely outside our control.
You get the signed-ready order and everything that goes with it. After entry we follow the transmittal until the plan confirms it holds the order.
We are engaged by referring counsel on a limited, discrete task. We do not enter an appearance, we do not contact the opposing party, and we do not take on the spouse as a client.
Where the alternate payee is unrepresented, we can act under a written limited scope agreement under Ohio Prof.Cond.R. 1.2(c), for one side only, subject to a conflict check.
We do not value pensions, run actuarial reports, or testify. We do not negotiate the underlying division.
If the decree is ambiguous about what was actually divided, we tell you so in writing before drafting rather than guessing. A drafter cannot cure a settlement that is silent.
The best time to involve a drafter is before the separation agreement is signed. A good share of what goes wrong in this area goes wrong in the settlement, where no later order can cure it. We review proposed retirement division language in a draft agreement at no charge for a referring firm.
Send us a messageAttorney advertising. QDROflow is the retirement division order practice of Michael Bahner, an attorney licensed in Ohio. This page states general information as of its date and is current to the Lucas County Domestic Relations local rules effective January 1, 2026. It is not legal advice, it is not a substitute for reading the governing plan document, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The commitment to redraft at no additional charge is a fee commitment; it is not a guarantee of any particular outcome, benefit amount or timeline, which are controlled by the plan administrator or retirement system.