She subpoenaed the retirement plan administrator. The records showed the plan received a court-certified copy of the QDRO last August, approved it, and transferred $88,400 into a separate account in Nate’s name as alternate payee. Six weeks later, Nate rolled it into an IRA at an online brokerage, and over the next four months he withdrew almost all of it in cash.
She subpoenaed the brokerage records, which showed withdrawals totaling $86,900.
Then she found the quitclaim deed. Thirty days after the divorce judgment, a deed was recorded with the Cook County Clerk’s recordings division transferring “all of the grantor’s right, title, and interest” in our house to Nathaniel James Carter. It was signed with my forged signature and notarized again by Carol Dempsey.
Two weeks after that, Nate opened a $150,000 home equity line of credit on our house in his name alone, with First Lakeshore Bank. He’d already drawn $131,000.
“Where’s the money going?” I asked Elena, staring at the printouts. “Two hundred thousand dollars in less than a year?”
