Actually... she probably gets a F 1099-R for the QDRO transfer, but it should be marked as a transfer and zero taxable.  

Either your client is wrong (imagine that) OR it wasn't done correctly.

UNLESS, there's some odd thing that happens with government retirement monies that get shared with the ex.  The main recipient gets tagged with all of it, but the ex gets some of the distribution.  I've had ONE of those in my career 😉