Family Law Section (virtual)

The MCBA Family Law Section announces their April virtual presentation, Avoiding Top Errors in Retirement Settlements: Tracking Market Gains and Equalization, to be held on Tuesday, April 22nd at 12:00 PM (until 1:00 PM).

Join speaker Denisa Tova-Liebman as she will explain how to properly divide defined contribution plans, focusing on avoiding common settlement mistakes such as open-ended agreements, equalization errors, and undefined community and separate property shares. The program will address one of the most pressing issues in retirement settlements—how to account for market gains when there’s a gap between settlement and division. With 401(k)s and IRAs making up the majority of the $43 trillion+ retirement market, failing to account for market growth can lead to costly disputes, especially when plans don’t track gains or clients move funds before division. Denisa will explain how to handle situations where one spouse invests aggressively and unexpectedly owes more, and how to avoid scenarios where the plan defaults to no gains, leaving clients frustrated. The session will cover which plans don’t track gains, how loans, equalization, and separate property credits impact division, dealing with missing statements or incomplete records, and effective settlement language guidelines with real case examples. Attendees will also learn practical solutions to avoid delays, additional fees, QDRO bottlenecks, and malpractice risks, equipping them to navigate retirement asset division more accurately and efficiently.

Time will be reserved for questions and answers.

***For those that are not able to attend but interested in the post-meeting recording, we require that you Register for the Event. Once the presentation has concluded, if the recording is adequate, we will send it to those that were not able to attend. MCBA does not provide CLE for viewing recordings post presentation.***

Chelsea Heaney and Emily Lane
Co-Chairs, MCBA Family Law Section