I am recently divorced. My ex-husband is a Union Electrician with four retirement plans. I agreed to leave three alone and only take a large chunk (more than half) of the third. I am older than he is and will be 60 soon. I have been told by numerous parties that I cannot touch his 401k until he turns 55 and then I will have to pay a 20% penalty if I do. I need that money now. He told me, as a means of convincing me to take less on the property settlement, that I could get the money now. What are the rules with regard to rolling it over and taking a monthly payment of less than $2000?:confused:

If the plan was awarded to you as part of a divorce decreeyou can withdraw it now without penalty.

You must have a "qualified domestic relatins order" that specifies the withdrwal - then you can take it without the 10% penalty. You may want to roll this into your own roll-over IRA so as to avoid income taxes on the full amount.

There is some additional useful information here:
401(k) And Divorce