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                         July 19, 2002

DoD backs changes to law protecting former military spouses

WASHINGTON (American Forces Press Service) -- DoD has sent a report to Congress with several recommended amendments to the controversial Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act.

Congress directed DoD to study the issue and make recommendations in 1998. In September 2001, DoD reported its findings and recommendations to Congress.

"To date, Congress has not included any of these recommendations in pending legislation," said Lt. Col. Tom Emswiler, a Pentagon attorney and one of the report authors.

One major change that veterans groups have sought is for divorce courts to compute payments to the former spouse based on the date of separation or divorce rather than retirement. DoD felt the proposal had merit and recommended Congress amend the law appropriately, Emswiler said.

"That is consistent with the way state courts divide assets," Emswiler said. "They typically draw a line at the time the parties separate, depending on the state laws."

Another DoD change would end the so-called 10/10/10 rule that governs when former spouses can receive retirement benefits directly from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Currently the rule calls for the member to have 10 years of active-duty, 10 years of marriage and the marriage must have coincided with the 10 years of active duty.

The DoD report recommends former spouses receive direct payments whenever they’re awarded any portion of retired pay.

The report also proposes that retiring military members be allowed to pay for spouse coverage every month and, upon their death, their beneficiary would continue receiving a percentage of the retirement pay.

Under current law, members can elect the SBP for only one spouse, current or former. A clause in many divorces requires military members to elect the SBP on their former spouse’s behalf upon retirement. The first former spouse who obtains such a clause in a settlement freezes out any subsequent spouse and family the member might have.

Another proposed change would make it easier for former spouses to ensure the retired members are paying SBP premiums as ordered. A little-known rule in the current law gives former spouses one year from the date of divorce to file the court order with DFAS. After that they must go to family court. The DoD report recommends doing away with the one-year filing requirement.

The DoD report recommended no changes on two issues -- retired pay sharing when a former spouse remarries and the division of disability payments from Veterans Affairs.

Emswiler stressed DoD committee members consulted state bar associations, military attorneys, veterans and former spouse associations before they submitted their report and recommendations to Congress.

"We did the best job that we could to solicit input from people affected by these changes," he said. "We really hope we came up with a fair and balanced report."

The entire report is online at dticaw.dtic.mil/prhome/