After the divorce: the checklist nobody hands you
The decree is the end of the case. It is not the end of the paperwork, and the most expensive mistakes in a divorce are made in the year after it, by people who reasonably believed they were finished.
This is the item on this checklist people are most confident about and most often wrong about. The beneficiary form outranks your will sets out what divorce does and does not change on its own — and why “my state revokes it automatically” is true about the small assets and false about the large one.
Nothing on this page is saved. The ticks are yours and they stay in this browser tab — close it, or open this page on your phone instead, and they are gone. Nothing you tick is sent to us. If you need to keep it, print the page or take a screenshot.
The second household is still half-furnished a year later on most of these timelines. The two-household list is the answer you can send them — the second of everything, and the half of it that costs nothing. Some people call it a divorce registry.
Nothing here is sent anywhere. Tick what you have done and skip what does not apply.
These are the only items here with a hard federal clock on them. Everything else can slip a week. These cannot.
The two clocks that run at the same time
Both are 60 days, and they are not the same 60 days.
The one people miss. Divorce by itself is generally not a qualifying event for a Marketplace special enrollment period — the loss of coverage is. If you were never on your spouse’s plan, nothing opens. If you were, the clock starts when the coverage ends, not when the judge signs.
Nothing here has a federal deadline. Every one of them has cost somebody their share of an account.
The decree does not move the money
Dividing an account and naming who inherits it are different tasks. Doing one does not do the other.
Why the third box matters more than the first two. The Department of Labor puts it plainly: “Without a valid QDRO, retirement plans covered by ERISA can only pay benefits under the terms of the written plan document — for example, to the plan participants or beneficiaries — no matter what the divorce decree may say.”
And the court does not decide whether the order works: “Only the retirement plan can confirm the alternate payee’s legal right … and ‘qualify’ it as a QDRO — not the court.” Written confirmation from the plan is the thing to hold, and asking for it is free.
Find a checked professional in your state → — this is the one item on this page where most people need someone, and nobody pays us to be listed there.
A waiver in the decree is not a change to the form. In 2009 the Supreme Court held that an ex-spouse who had given up her interest in a divorce decree still received the account, because she was still the named beneficiary on file with the plan. The plan was required to follow its own documents.
And in 2001 the Court held that federal law overrides state statutes that try to cancel an ex-spouse’s beneficiary designation automatically at divorce, for employer plans. Whatever your state says, and whatever the decree says, the form on file is what gets read.
The documents that still name your spouse
These are separate from anything the divorce divided.
An order to transfer is not a transfer
Anything with both names on it
Social Security first, then everything else
Most other agencies check against Social Security’s record, so doing this out of order means doing it twice.
The records that still list one household
If your agreement was signed after 2018, the alimony rules are not the ones you have heard about. The IRS is unambiguous: amounts paid under an instrument executed after 2018 are not deductible by the person paying and not counted as income to the person receiving. That is the reverse of the old rule, and people who budgeted on the old rule are wrong in both directions.
One date decides your filing status
These ticks will not be here tomorrow. Nothing on this page is stored — close the tab and it is gone. Saving your progress across devices is what a membership is for. What that costs and what it does not include →
- COBRA notification, election and duration — US Department of Labor, FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers.
- QDROs — US Department of Labor, Qualified Domestic Relations Orders under ERISA: A Practical Guide to Dividing Retirement Benefits.
- Beneficiary designations — Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Savings and Investment Plan, 555 U.S. 285 (2009); Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, 532 U.S. 141 (2001).
- Filing status, alimony after 2018, and name changes — IRS Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals.
- Marketplace special enrollment — the trigger is loss of coverage rather than the divorce itself. Some state exchanges differ. Check your own exchange before relying on this.
The Cusp is not a law firm and does not practice law. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice, and nothing here tells you what is right for your situation — only what to check and who sets the rule. Deadlines and rules change without notice. Anything time-sensitive deserves a fresh look at the source, and several of these items are worth one hour of a professional’s time.