Often, divorcing couples pull money out of retirement accounts because they simply don’t have other available liquid funds to handle the substantial expenses of a divorce — or because one or both parties become very litigious, says Dori Goikhman, an attorney-mediator and founder of Off the Record Mediation Services based in Silicon Valley.
If you’re preparing for a divorce and making contributions to a retirement account, you need to file as soon as possible, because any post-filing contributions made to the account are not divisible with your soon-to-be former spouse, says Rajeh Saadeh, a high stakes divorce and family attorney in New York and New Jersey.
If this is not correctly completed and accepted before the divorce is final, then the money moves with a tax consequence, says Beth Logan, author of “Divorce and Taxes after Tax Reform.
A good tax professional should look at the expected after-tax value of the retirement fund and split the savings so the couple pays the least taxes now and in the future.