DIRECT DATA FORWARDING FOR USER EQUIPMENT HANDOVER

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. A target master node of a wireless communications system may receive a handover request that corresponds to a user equipment (UE). The target master node may transmit, responsive to the handover request and to a target secondary node associated with the target master node, via a first message, a secondary node identifier for a source secondary node associated with the source master node. The target master node may receive, via a second message responsive to the first message, information indicative of whether a direct data forwarding path is available between the target secondary node and the source secondary node. The source master node may relay at least one direct data forwarding address to the source secondary node to use for direct data forwarding, for the UE, to at least one of the target master node or the target secondary node.