What does the $700 flat fee include?

The $700 flat project fee includes drafting the QDRO using the plan's published procedures, pre-submission of the draft to the plan's QDRO unit when the plan offers pre-approval, plan-specific revisions if the plan requests changes, and a court-ready executed version. If TOVA is retained for the order, the pre-settlement retirement-division language review is included at no additional charge. Court filing fees, attorney fees for signing and submitting the order, and any plan-side QDRO administration fees charged by the record keeper are separate.

What makes a QDRO quote-only instead of flat fee?

Quote-only cases fall into a few categories. Plans with custom procedures: state and local government pensions, non-governmental 457(b), NQDC, federal civilian (COAP), and uniformed service (USFSPA). Cases that require more than QDRO drafting alone: forensic marital and non-marital tracing, Records Discovery, cross-border consulting, present-value valuation for offset, and rejected-QDRO amendments. The quote depends on the plan, the records available, and the scope of work needed beyond the order itself.

Why are state and local government pensions quote-only?

State and local government pension systems each have their own DRO procedures, accepted-language patterns, and approval timelines. NYSLRS, the five NYC pension systems, Colorado PERA, FPPA, New Jersey PERS/PFRS/TPAF, Connecticut SERS, Florida FRS, and similar systems each require plan-specific drafting that does not template the way a private 401(k) order does. The quote reflects the system-specific work.

What does a forensic tracing engagement cost?

Forensic Tracing is quoted after a short scope review because the scope depends on factors specific to the case: number of accounts, length of marriage, whether premarital balances need to be carved out, statement availability through the date of marriage, rollover history, loans taken and repaid, withdrawals before and after the cutoff, multiple record-keeper transitions, and the pre-forensic Records Discovery work needed before tracing can begin. Many tracing assignments fall in the $1,500 to $3,500 range; more involved cases may quote higher.

What does it cost to fix a rejected QDRO?

Rejected-QDRO amendments are quote-only. Most of the time the fee reflects the diagnostic work needed to identify why the order was rejected, the plan-specific re-drafting, and re-submission to the plan. If the underlying problem is in the settlement agreement (not just the order), the work may extend into agreement clarification through the attorneys. TOVA's qdro-rejected guide covers the nine common rejection patterns; the diagnostic step is included in the quote.

Is the pre-settlement language review really free?

Yes. The Pre-Settlement Retirement Division Language Review is complimentary as a standalone service and complimentary as part of the QDRO drafting engagement. There is no fee. The review is a focused check of the retirement-division language in the draft agreement against what the plan can actually administer. It is offered free because catching language problems before the agreement is signed prevents the larger downstream cost of a rejected QDRO.

QDRO Cost in 2026

How Much Does a QDRO Cost?

A standard QDRO at TOVA is a $700 flat project fee. Quote-only for state and local pensions, federal civilian (COAP), uniformed service (USFSPA), forensic tracing, and a small set of specialty cases. The page below names each category and what drives the difference.

QDRO pricing in the wider market ranges from a few hundred dollars for templated mill output to several thousand for specialty plans. The honest version of the price is: for most private-sector retirement plans, a clean order is straightforward and should be priced as a flat project fee. For systems with their own procedures, custom drafting is unavoidable. The pricing model below names which is which.

TOVA's $700 flat is not a discount price. It is the price for a court-defensible order on a standard private retirement plan, prepared by a 4-credentialed retirement specialist, pre-approved by the plan administrator where the plan offers it, with revisions included if the plan asks for changes. Same price every attorney sees, every divorcing party sees, every referral sees.

The flat $700 project fee covers

Plan or order type	Order name	Project fee
Private 401(k)	QDRO	$700
Private 403(b) (ERISA)	QDRO	$700
Profit-sharing, ESOP, Keogh	QDRO	$700
Private ERISA defined-benefit pension	QDRO	$700
IRA (Traditional, Roth, Rollover, SEP, SIMPLE)	Transfer Incident under IRC §408(d)(6)	$700
Thrift Savings Plan	RBCO	$700
Governmental 457(b)	DRO	$700
Non-ERISA 403(b)	DRO	$700
Pension present value estimate	Valuation report	$700

Flat means flat. No hourly billing, no surprise revisions charge, no plan-revision fee. If the plan asks for changes after submission, the revisions are part of the $700.

Quote-only cases

Plans with system-specific procedures

State and local government pensions. NYSLRS, NYCERS, NYC Police/Fire/BERS/TRS QPP, Colorado PERA, FPPA, New Jersey PERS/PFRS/TPAF/JRS/SPRS, Connecticut SERS/MERS/TRB, Florida FRS, CalPERS, CalSTRS, TRS Texas, and similar systems.
Non-governmental 457(b). Top-hat plans for executives at private employers. Each plan has its own document.
Non-qualified deferred compensation (NQDC). Section 409A plans. Plan-specific.
Federal civilian (COAP). CSRS and FERS annuities at OPM.
Uniformed service (USFSPA-compliant order). Military retired pay at DFAS.

Work that goes beyond drafting the order

Forensic Tracing. Marital and non-marital separation. Quoted after a short scope review; many tracing assignments fall in the $1,500 to $3,500 range. The quote depends on accounts, dates, statement availability, rollover history, and similar scope factors. See the forensic tracing guide.
Records Discovery. Pre-forensic records sourcing when statements predate the current record keeper. See the forensic tracing guide.
Cross-Border Retirement Division Consulting. Foreign decrees, US plan-administrator requirements, treaty and withholding issues. See the cross-border guide.
Rejected-QDRO amendments. Diagnostic and re-drafting. See the QDRO rejection diagnosis guide.
Pre-settlement language review (standalone). Complimentary, no fee.

What drives a quote up

For quote-only cases, the price reflects the work, not the plan name. A few drivers:

Multiple plans under one settlement. A federal employee with FERS, TSP, and a 401(k) from a prior private employer needs a COAP, an RBCO, and a QDRO. Three orders.
Tracing scope. Premarital carve-outs, rollovers across record keepers, loans during marriage, post-separation contributions to back out. Each adds analysis.
Records gaps. If statements before a certain date are not available from the current record keeper, Records Discovery comes in first. See the Seven-Year Wall section of the forensic tracing guide.
TIAA accounts. A TIAA account is usually several plans under one umbrella, and some of what shows on the statement may not be a divisible retirement plan at all. We review each plan on the statement and confirm scope before quoting. Where TIAA's rules allow it, plans being divided before payout can be combined into one order. See the TIAA 403(b) guide.
Cross-border integration. Foreign decree, U.S. plan, additional U.S. court step required.
Participant already in pay status. Shared-payment drafting, election review. See the post-retirement guide.

What does not change the price

Account size. A $50,000 401(k) and a $5,000,000 401(k) are both $700.
Whether the alternate payee is the wife or the husband. No premium either way.
Geography within the United States. TOVA serves attorneys in all 50 states at the same fee schedule.

The hidden costs to avoid

Paying twice for a rejected order. A rejected QDRO usually means paying again to redraft, paying the attorney again to submit, and waiting through another acceptance cycle while the participant keeps the alternate payee's share. The cost of rejection is much larger than the cost of getting it right the first time. See the rejection diagnosis guide for the nine recurring patterns.

Paying for a templated order that the plan will not accept. Some QDRO services use the same template regardless of plan. Plans with their own procedures (most state pensions, federal civilian, uniformed service, TIAA multi-plan) reject templated orders that do not match their accepted-language requirements.

How TOVA quotes a non-flat-fee case

Email denisa@tovaretirement.com with the plan name (or the employer if the plan name is unclear), a short scope description, and any relevant documents (settlement language, statements, the rejected order if there is one).
We respond with a flat project-fee quote covering the work described, with a brief note on what is and is not included.
If the scope changes after we start, we send a revised quote before doing the additional work. Nothing gets added silently.

For full pricing detail with the OfferCatalog schema, see the pricing page. For the matchup between plan type and order name (QDRO vs COAP vs RBCO vs DRO vs USFSPA-compliant order vs IRA Transfer Incident), see the order type guide. For the related FAQ section, see QDRO Services and Process.

What TOVA does not do

We do not make strategic litigation decisions. We document what the records show and what the plan can administer.
We do not negotiate fees against counsel's QDRO budget. The published price is the price.

Cost questions, answered

How much does a QDRO cost in California?

The same $700 flat for a standard private plan. QDRO drafting does not cost more because the divorce is in California. A private 401(k), private 403(b), or IRA for a California case is $700, the same as any other state. California's large public systems, CalPERS and CalSTRS, run their own court-order procedures, so those are quote-only.

What is the QDRO fee for a 401(k)?

$700 flat. A private 401(k) is the standard case. TOVA drafts the order, pre-submits it to the plan's QDRO unit where the plan allows pre-approval, includes any plan-requested revisions, and delivers a court-ready version, all for the one $700 project fee, regardless of the account balance.

Need a quote or want to confirm $700 flat?

Email the plan name (or the employer), the form of payment or distribution status, and any relevant documents. We confirm whether the case is flat-fee or quote-only and respond with a project-fee number.

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By Denisa Tova-Liebman, MBA, CFP, CDFA, CQS