Divorce / QDRO - Transfer funds from Roth IRA or 401k?

[hhins]

I can't wrap my head around what may be better for my retirement. I'm going through a divorce and will need to use a QDRO to split funds ($25k) over to the spouse.

From what I understand, it can come out of my Roth IRA or 401k into the spouse's plan, which should I pick?

The balances are $30k (Roth) and $60k (401k). I'd rather leave the higher balance account alone but it was put in pre-tax vs post for the roth.

Thoughts? I just can't think straight about it.

[MonkeyMama]

Personally, I would take it out of the 401k. You have already gotten the tax benefit of contributing to the 401k. With the ROTHs, they will grow tax-free indefinitely. I'd personally rather keep money that I won't have to pay taxes on (in the future).

I don't know if there is anything about your "entire financial situation" that might sway my answer. It's not a bad idea to diversify your tax exposure, but keeping the ROTH preserves tax diversity also. You'd have $30k in the ROTH and $35k in the 401k - about 50/50.