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DIVORCE SETTLEMENTS COMPLICATED BY VETERANS'
DISABILITY PAYMENTS -- Rules prevent retirement
pay and
disability compensation from being split in a
way each side
thinks is fair, leaving one side or the other
unhappy.
For more on divorce and veterans, use the VA
Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=divorce&op=and
Story here...
http://www.kitsapsun.
com/news/2007/aug/10/divorce-set
tlements-complicated-by-v
ets-payments/
Story below:
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Divorce Settlements Complicated by Vets'
Disability Payments
By Ed Friedrich
A man toils in the military for more than 20 years, and gets hurt while
serving his country.
Through all the travels and travails stands his wife.
He retires, supplementing a new career with GI benefits.
The marriage turns sour, and they divorce.
Rules prevent retirement pay and disability compensation from being
split in a way each side thinks is fair, leaving one side or the other
unhappy.
With more than 27,000 American troops already wounded in Iraq, the
scenario is bound to proliferate as troops reach retirement age. It
springs from a conflict in the way disability compensation is addressed
and is likely to leave either the veteran or the spouse feeling ripped
off, according to lawyers, advocates and at least one local veteran.
A law now being phased in provides an antidote — and a bill co-sponsored
by U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee seeks to speed relief — but not soon enough for
disabled veterans such as Gary Soula of Silverdale.
The 29-year Coast Guard veteran split from his wife of 34 years in
November 2004. He is 80 percent disabled with a heart condition and
other ailments. A 150-year-old law states that any disability
compensation a veteran receives must be subtracted dollar for dollar
from retirement pay.
Given the choice, veterans generally opt for disability pay because it's
tax-free. They contend that it is awarded for their personal sacrifice
and suffering, and by federal law can't be divided. The more the veteran
receives in disability, the less retirement remains for the ex-spouse to
split. Some courts get around that by awarding the former partner the
same amount in "spousal maintenance."
Todd Buskirk, Soula's Silverdale attorney, calls it "a cute little
end-around."
"On the one hand you have military members saying, 'You're giving her my
disability,' and on the other hand you have former spouses saying, 'I'm
not going to lose what I'm entitled to,' " Buskirk said.
Since 2004, disabled vets have been receiving a 10 percent annual
increase in their retirement, called "concurrent receipt." That will
continue until 2014 when they'll peak with full retirement, which an
ex-spouse can tap into, plus full disability compensation, for the vet
only. It should then be fair to both sides.
A bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, the "Retired Pay
Restoration Act," would eliminate the phase-in period and award full
benefits beginning in January.
Soula, who earns less than his former wife, is irked that he has to pay
her any spousal maintenance at all, much less for life. In most arenas,
he said, it's a temporary payment to help the ex get back on his or her
feet.
The courts shouldn't lump retirement, disability and concurrent receipt
together when splitting it up, Soula said.
"A lot of people are being screwed over because they're being charged a
piece of their disability as a flat amount," he said.
Ex-wife Jerri Soula admits that in her case the spousal maintenance
"probably isn't fair," but Gary Soula signed the agreement and should
abide by it, she said.
Many divorcees don't possess the skills or education to return to the
standard of living they enjoyed while they were married, so the law
shouldn't be changed for exceptions, she said.
"I know Gary has issues with the whole thing and I'm sorry he does, but
it wasn't my idea," she said. "It's the state of Washington. It's how
they run the show. If you sign a divorce decree and agree to the terms,
you do what you have to do until the law changes."
Gary Soula and other disabled veterans are faced with settling and
avoiding uncertainty in court or going to trial, arguing the law and
possibly having the court do the end-around.
"The former avoids the uncertainty and lots of attorney fees but
seriously galls the retiree because they feel as if they were forced
into the decision," Buskirk said. "The latter takes the chance that the
court won't award the maintenance — i.e. disability. So the retiree is
faced with the choice of 'Is it worth the gamble?' With long-term
marriages like Gary's, the answer is usually no, it is not worth the
gamble of high stress and lots of attorney fees."
The bill in the House was introduced by Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., and
has bipartisan support. There are 140 cosponsors, including Inslee of
Bainbridge Island.
There's not enough time on the House floor to hear the bill, said
Christine Hanson, Inslee's press secretary, so it would probably be
rolled into a larger bill, possibly the Senate's defense authorization
bill.
"That's one thing at the federal level that would help Gary's situation
out," she said. "How much money goes to a spouse is not something the
federal government determines. Each state has its own laws."
Besides Inslee, Soula has contacted other national and state lawmakers
for help.
State Rep. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, says an attorney on
the legislative staff is helping her sort out whether there's something
the state should do.
"I'm still working, but I don't have a piece of legislation waiting to
introduce next year at this point," she said. "I'm sorting through the
details and I'm curious about how many other people are in the same
position and what that means financially."
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Larry Scott --
