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Idea to send: |
| Topic | Military Retired Pay |
| Content | More protection is needed for our veterans by legistlating the prohibition of Military Retired Pay and VA Disability Compensation as an award/garnishment by state Divorce Judges just as Puerto Rico has prohibited division and considers it the sole property of the service member in accordance with the USFSPA which Puerto Rico falls under as well.This is a Federal entitlement and not a qualified pension plan as defined by Defense Finance Accounting Service, U.S. Solicitor General,U.S. Comptroller.The IRS has defined retired pay as a current wage.The Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act (USFSPA) 10 U.S.C. 1408 allows the individual state to treat retired pay as "property" it does not mandate/require state courts to do so. In fact, 10 U.S.C. 1408 specifically states that a court "may treat disposable retired pay...inaccordance with the law of the jurisdiction of such court." The state courts are ignoring the federal statute and automatically awarding retired pay for "LIFE" to a former spouse regardeless of lenghth of marriage,circumstances or merit. The former spouse still recieves payments even if they remarry. In fact, the only mention of the USFSPA in any Oklahoma statute is Title 43 Alimoney and Maintenance. How can retired pay be classified as alimoney and then magically turned into property. The courts have ignored this state staute as well and have even disregarded certain sections of the USFSPA that state "payments shall terminate to the former spouse in accordance with the applicable court order". |
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