Pensions, Retirement Plans, QDROs

The thrift savings plan, which is very hard to say, is basically the government 401(k). It’s money that the employee contributes some, and there’s an employer match. If you have the first pension, you have a higher employer match. CSRS pension is a lower employer match. A Roth thrift savings plan is just like a […]

There is more or less an automatic minor-child benefit if a parent dies in service and isn’t even drawing the pension yet. It’s used to name your children, make sure they’re listed on your beneficiary pages, and it’s a small amount that’s paid until the children reach the age of majority in their jurisdiction, which […]

You have to have 20 years in to get a military pension and 20 years in to get a Foreign Service pension, whereas the federal civilian ones don’t have the 20-year requirement. In the civilian ones, you cannot draw your pension until you reach a certain age, which is different than the military and the […]

Jurisdictional questions vary by the type of pension it is, and also depend on the person’s residency. For civilian employees, generally if everyone lives in one state, your state will govern that. Military, in order for a state to have jurisdiction to divide a military pension – it’s a little quirky because the military member […]

The fraction is still generally the same, but there are a couple of quirks. For the military, they have to have 20 years in to really get a pension. Federal civilian employees vest in their pensions at five years. They don’t get much of a pension after five years, but they vest and they’re able […]

  Typically, federal pensions are divided by what they call the marital share fraction. The way the system works is that the private employer pensions are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The federal, state, railroad, and church pensions are all not covered by ERISA. They have their own particular statutes for […]