New York Divorce Attorney Services that Protect Your Share of Retirement Benefits
Carla McKain is a New York divorce attorney with a special focus on Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs), offering clients comprehensive legal support in one place. Retirement assets are often among the most significant and complex components of a divorce settlement. Unlike many firms that refer clients to a separate attorney to handle QDROs, McKain Law integrates this work into the divorce , guiding clients from the initial negotiation through final qualification and plan approval. Ms. McKain’s knowledge of ERISA and retirement plan structures ensures that QDROs meet each plan’s requirements, helping to protect her clients' long-term financial interests. Her practice eliminates the common delays and confusion that arise when QDROs are treated as an afterthought.
What sets Ms. McKain apart from other divorce attorneys is her proactive, detail-oriented approach to preserving critical retirement benefits during the divorce process. She ensures survivorship rights, loan adjustments, and other unique plan provisions are properly addressed in the settlement agreement, before the divorce is finalized. This allows her to initiate the QDRO process early, helping to avoid costly mistakes and delays for her clients. Whether representing New York clients in divorce proceedings or preparing QDROs for individuals nationwide, McKain Law offers trusted, end-to-end legal support with a rare combination of divorce and retirement plan knowledge. For clients, that means peace of mind knowing their financial future is protected as much as possible.
Who we help wITH OUR QDRO and Divorce ATTORNEY SERVICES:
Spouses in the state of New York who need to dissolve their marriage;
Ex-spouses that need a QDRO (or similar order) after their divorce is final (available nationwide);
Attorneys handling a divorce who need to understand and negotiate retirement benefits, and ultimately need a QDRO or other order;
Mediators or collaborative attorneys helping couples through divorce who are not familiar with the technical rules of ERISA or other laws governing retirement benefits; and
Ex-spouses, parents, or guardians who are owed maintenance or child support and whose ex-spouse has retirement assets in his or her name somewhere in the country.
Learn More About the Attorney Services Offered at McKain Law
NY DIVORCE
Only Available in New York
QDRO
Available Nationwide
ERISA
Available Nationwide
About Carla McKain
Carla N. McKain, principal attorney for McKain Law PLLC, advises and represents clients in two areas: employee benefit plans and divorce . She gained experience working on matters arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, while in law school. Ms. McKain received her J.D. from the Washington College of Law at American University. Subsequently, Ms. McKain was an associate attorney at several firms exclusively focused on representing union-sided trustees of large multiemployer pension and welfare funds governed by ERISA. After moving from the D.C. area to upstate New York, Ms. McKain built an ERISA practice while working at a large firm before starting her own practice, McKain Law PLLC, in January 2013. Since then she has built a practice focused on three areas: appealing and litigating ERISA benefits claims; drafting and processing retirement division and child support orders related to divorce; and counseling and representing clients in the divorce process.
McKain Law, PLLC has obtained positive results for clients in areas like:
Representing a client seeking a divorce;
Working with divorce attorneys to understand, negotiate, and draft qualified domestic relations orders for ongoing divorce cases;
Handling unresolved QDROs for one or both ex-spouses who already have a divorce judgment, even if the divorce was many years ago;
With claims related to employer-provided health, disability, and retirement plans;
Representing clients appealing a denied claim during the administrative process before insurance companies or self-funded plans;
Litigating ERISA claims relating to complex mental health coverage parity rules;
Litigating claims in federal court to obtain or reinstate benefits denied after an appeal; and
Requesting plan documents and other information to which you are entitled, and obtaining monetary penalties against the employer for failure to timely provide that information