A surprising number of clients tell me during the initial consultation that Arkansas is "not an alimony state." They are surprised to hear that Arkansas is indeed an alimony state. They are also surprised to hear that alimony is modifiable, much like child support, after the divorce is final. The primary reason for a modification is a change in the parties' financial condition after the divorce.

The Arkansas Court of Appeals recently provided a good discussion of alimony modification law. Here's a link to the case...
http://courts.arkansas.gov/court_opinions/coa/2009b/20090930/ca08-1423.pdf

QDROs, Qualified Domestic Relations Orders, are drafted by an attorney, and signed by the judge, usually after the divorce is final. The purpose of the QDRO is to provide one spouse with a portion (usually half) of the other spouse's retirement account due to the fact that the retirement account is marital property. In a divorce, we divide pretty much everything right? Well, that normally includes retirement accounts.
But retirement accounts present the problem of taxes and penalties if funds are withdrawn from them prior to retirement. A QDRO allows the spouse receiving a portion of the other spouse's retirement to receive those funds without penalty, PROVIDED that the funds are kept in a similar retirement account and not withdrawn as cash.
Most attorneys hate drafting QDROs for a variety of reasons, primarily because there are numerous pitfalls in the language that is used. The following case illustrates how important it is to monitor the precise language in your QDRO.

Here's the link...
http://courts.arkansas.gov/court_opinions/coa/2009b/20090930/ca09-111.pdf