Troyan, Inc. — QDRO

Experience:	Prepared in excess of 15,000 orders
Knowledge:	Largest Government and ERISA plan data base
Performance:	Individually Crafted Domestic Relations Orders

AT TROYAN, INC. YOUR QDRO WILL BE DRAFTED BY A PENSION SPECIALIST. OUR FIRM POSSESSES A NATIONWIDE DATA BASE OF STATE, MUNICIPAL AND ERISA PLANS.

EXPERIENCE *** RESOURCES

At the end of 2005, Troyan, Inc. had prepared more than 15,000 Domestic Relations Orders. No firm has equivalent experience or a comparable data base of corporate and government pension plans.

EXTENSIVE DRAFTING EXPERIENCE

Among the Retirement Systems we routinely prepare Orders against are:

1. Federal Civil Service
2. Military Retirement System
3. State & Municipal Plans
   • Public Employees Retirement Systems
   • Police & Fire Retirement Systems
   • Teacher Retirement Systems
   • Judicial Retirement Systems
   • Tax Deferred Annuities
   • § 403(b) Plans
   • § 457 Plans
4. Corporate Retirement Plans
   • Defined Benefit Plans
   • Defined Contribution Plans (401k)
   • Thrift & Savings Plans
   • Executive Compensation Plans
   • Non-Qualified Plans
     • Stock Options and Restricted Stock Plans
     • Performance Based Incentive Plans
     • Excess Benefit & SERP’s
5. Collectively Bargained Plans
6. Railroad Retirement System

JOINTLY RETAINED

In more than 66% of matters involving this firm we are jointly retained. Our mission is attorney support. Every effort is made in the course of working with retaining counsel to provide comprehensive and equitable service that is alert to the stresses and challenges of attorneys working directly with demanding clients. Frequently, we are called upon to “harmonize” the divergent views of opposing parties. In such matters our efforts are directed to making clear to respective counsel the impact to their client of the various options discussed. At the conclusion of stressful cases we advise the attorney regarding procedures to employ at the close of the matter that operate as a bar to post-divorce client dissatisfaction.

EMPLOYER SPECIFIC DRAFTING GUIDELINES

Troyan, Inc. has the negotiating and drafting experience acquired in the course of preparing more than 12,000 Domestic Relations Orders, facilitated an in-house document termed “Drafting Guidelines”. This Guide is in excess of 1,500 pages and provides our staff with digests of drafting requirements of Federal, State and ERISA plans. Knowledge of a Plan’s format, unique features and language requirements enables our staff to provide entity specific Orders against a large variety of Plans.

TROYAN, INC. FEATURES

Negotiating Support
Our technical staff explores with retaining counsel the advantages/disadvantages to his or her client of both the Immediate Offset Method Settlement Method and the Deferred Distribution Settlement Method (see discussion in “Basic Text” section). To an increasing degree “number crunching” is an element of these negotiations, since counsel deem it constructive to explain any potential settlement in terms of dollars. Further, attorneys must be made aware of the costs to his or her client of the various settlement options when the settlement mode is Deferred Distribution (a QDRO will be entered). In these negotiations we make clear the various plan components that must be allocated or denied to an Alternate Payee. Such areas as pre and post-retirement survivor annuities, post-retirement COLA, and the dangers of any possible post-divorce disablement of the titled spouse are carefully explained to counsel in terms of benefits and dollars.

We place great emphasis on the significance of Discovery. The practitioner must be certain that all elements of the titled spouse’s benefit’s package have been found, valued and properly reported. Our comprehensive data base alerts the attorney when a party to an action “forgets” a valuable employee benefit, e.g. stock options or a Non-Qualified Plan. The focus of our support at this phase is to advise the practitioner in order to prevent inadvertent error or omission that operates to diminish the interest of his or her client. Unquestionably, this is a critical service to the attorney representing the non-titled spouse.

Language for Property Settlement Agreements
Language for any Property Settlement Agreement is jurisdictionally and plan specific. We find that too often the practitioner enters into a settlement without a comprehensive understanding of the significance or impact to his or her client of arcane pension terms and provisions. When we prepare language for the pension portion of the Property Settlement Agreement it is generally based on the specific requirements of the employer and the plan’s unique features. If the subject employer is not in our data base we will at no expense to the retaining attorney obtain directly from that Plans Administrator whatever data we deem essential to properly advise the practitioner. Additionally, drafting traps that are unique to the plan under investigation will be explained and appropriate language provided. Further, some Plan Administrators have rather “unique” interpretations of QDRO language resulting in a distortion of what the parties assumed were the clear terms of their settlement. It is essential that the practitioner be alerted to these Plan Administrators and the problems resulting from their aberrant interpretations of QDRO language. In most instances the fee for providing this settlement Language is $250.00.

Our function is to simplify the tasks of the family practitioner regarding all aspects of valuation, negotiation and drafting regarding Retirement Plans. Best of all when you call Troyan, Inc. you can address your concerns to a licensed attorney.