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It's true that your VA disability compensation can't be garnished.

However, if you have a child support or alimony order from a family court and you've fallen behind on your obligation, the VA can and will apportion the payment to the obligee (the person you owe) and they will send them the money deducted from your payment.

There are two ways to stop this before it happens. Pay the obligation on time or ask the family court where your order came from to lower your obligation.

VA won't help you.

For more, read the info about divorce.

Apportionment

Apportionment is very similar to wage garnishment. The VA will hear requests for apportionment from spouses or other dependents to whom the veteran may be required to pay child support or alimony.

The veteran will be allowed an opportunity to appeal an application for apportionment. The timeliness and other requirements are strict and the veteran must pay close attention to the details outlined in the apportionment proceeding notice.

The veteran who receives notification that an apportionment request has been made must act quickly. The veteran may ask for a personal hearing to dispute the apportionment as well as ask that no deductions be made to the veteran's compensation payment until appeals are exhausted.

The most common reason for apportionment is child support arrears. The veteran must recognize that in many states, any money collected through apportionment and delivered to the obligee (custodial parent) may not actually satisfy the state as a child support payment.

Many states require that payments must be recorded directly through the state's child support enforcement authority or it will be classed as a "gift" and it will not be applied toward arrears.

Learning as much as you can about apportionment is your best defense.

Begin by clicking http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/M21_1MR.html and then read;

Part 3 - General Claims Process
SubptV - General Authorization Issues and Claimant Notifications
Chapter 3 - Apportionments

Apportionments

§ 3.450   General.

(a)(1) All or any part of the pension, compensation, or emergency officers' retirement pay payable on account of any veteran may be apportioned.

(i) On behalf of his or her spouse, children, or dependent parents if the veteran is incompetent and is being furnished hospital treatment, institutional, or domiciliary care by the United States, or any political subdivision thereof.

(ii) If the veteran is not residing with his or her spouse, or if the veteran's children are not residing with the veteran and the veteran is not reasonably discharging his or her responsibility for the spouse's or children's support.

(2) Where any of the children of a deceased veteran are not living with the veteran's surviving spouse, the pension, compensation, or dependency and indemnity compensation otherwise payable to the surviving spouse may be apportioned.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 5307)

(b) Except as provided in §3.458(e), no apportionment of disability or death benefits will be made or changed solely because a child has entered active duty with the air, military, or naval services of the United States.

(c) No apportionment will be made where the veteran, the veteran's spouse (when paid “as wife” or “as husband”), surviving spouse, or fiduciary is providing for dependents. The additional benefits for such dependents will be paid to the veteran, spouse, surviving spouse, or fiduciary.

(d) Any amounts payable for children under §§3.459, 3.460 and 3.461 will be equally divided among the children.

(e) The amount payable for a child in custody of and residing with the surviving spouse shall be paid to the surviving spouse. Amounts payable to a surviving spouse for a child in the surviving spouse's custody but residing with someone else may be apportioned if the surviving spouse is not reasonably contributing to the child's support.

(f) Prior to release of any amounts the relationship of the claimant and the dependency of a parent will be fully developed, and the necessary evidence secured.

(g) The provisions of §3.460 are applicable where the surviving spouse is entitled to a higher rate of pension under the circumstances described in that section.

§ 3.452   Situations when benefits may be apportioned.

Veterans benefits may be apportioned:

(a) If the veteran is not residing with his or her spouse or his or her children and a claim for apportionment is filed for or on behalf of the spouse or children.

(b) Pending the appointment of a guardian or other fiduciary.

(c)(1) Where an incompetent veteran without a fiduciary is receiving institutional care by the United States or a political subdivision, his or her benefit may be apportioned for a spouse or child, or, except as provided in paragraph (c)(2), for a dependent parent, unless such benefit is paid to a spouse (“as wife” or “as husband”) for the use of the veteran and his or her dependents.

(2) Where a married veteran is receiving section 306 or improved pension and the amount payable is reduced under §3.551(c) because of hospitalization, an apportionment may be paid to the veteran's spouse as provided in §3.454(b).
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a); 5307; 5503(a))


(d) Where additional compensation is payable on behalf of a parent and the veteran or his or her guardian neglects or refuses to contribute such an amount to the support of the parent the additional compensation will be paid to the parent upon receipt of a claim.
Cross References:

Institutional awards. See §3.852. Disappearance of veteran. See §3.656. Reduction because of hospitalization. See §3.551. Penal institutions. See §3.666.

[26 FR 7266, Aug. 11, 1961, as amended at 27 FR 6974, July 24, 1962; 40 FR 21724, May 19, 1975; 44 FR 45940, Aug. 6, 1979; 66 FR 48560, Sept. 21, 2001; 68 FR 34542, June 10, 2003]

§ 3.451   Special apportionments.

Without regard to any other provision regarding apportionment where hardship is shown to exist, pension, compensation, emergency officers' retirement pay, or dependency and indemnity compensation may be specially apportioned between the veteran and his or her dependents or the surviving spouse and children on the basis of the facts in the individual case as long as it does not cause undue hardship to the other persons in interest, except as to those cases covered by §3.458(b) and (c). In determining the basis for special apportionment, consideration will be given such factors as: Amount of Department of Veterans Affairs benefits payable; other resources and income of the veteran and those dependents in whose behalf apportionment is claimed; and special needs of the veteran, his or her dependents, and the apportionment claimants. The amount apportioned should generally be consistent with the total number of dependents involved. Ordinarily, apportionment of more than 50 percent of the veteran's benefits would constitute undue hardship on him or her while apportionment of less than 20 percent of his or her benefits would not provide a reasonable amount for any apportionee.

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From Jim's Mailbag;

Obligee, Obligor & Apportionment ... A Cautionary Tale For All Veterans

Not unlike the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Family Courts of each state are overwhelmed by the number of cases they face. In years past couples would separate and divorce and any obligations imposed upon them by the court in a divorce decree was largely unenforceable. Often enough one or the other would move across a state line and law enforcement agencies didn't have much authority to pursue any of the issues that were there. The problems of a divorced couple were a civil issue, not a criminal problem and the police just weren't interested.

Family Courts evolved from this lack of authority and simultaneously each state began to develop its own Child Support Enforcement divisions within the authority of the state government. The gaps were filled in over the years until each state had a set of laws that were all pretty similar to the other. Federal law stepped in to ensure that interstate enforcement was emphasized and enforced. No longer could a non-paying parent simply walk across a state line to avoid prosecution.

Today the general rule is that no matter where the obligor (the parent ordered to pay) goes, he or she is followed by the rules of the state that issued the divorce decree and/or where the benefiting children are residing. The obligee (the parent who receives and administers the child support payment) need only to inform the state that has jurisdiction that the obligor has failed to meet on obligation and that office has an effective network to enforce the law beyond any other state borders.

History shows that parents ordered to pay support were easily able to avoid such and the culture of "deadbeat dads" became a much maligned subset of men in our society. To this day such parents are held up to public scorn and some communities have weekly roundups of published names and photos in local newspapers that ridicule offenders for being such scofflaws.

The pendulum has swung far in the other direction over the last 40 years or so. Today, if a magistrate of a family court orders child support it may be an amount "impuned" by that Court and the obligation is what is owed based on what the court believes the obligor should earn, not what their earnings actually are. Loss of income by losing a job is rarely seen as a good reason to lower an obligation and even illness often won't sway a judge to modify the excessively high number owed each month.

Family courts have developed a reputation today of being similar to a debtor's prison of old. If you fall behind, you go to jail. While in jail the obligation continues to build. It's apparent that the inmate can't work to earn money to pay the obligation and if the unfortunate obligor is incarcerated at the end of the year, a COLA obligation may kick in and when he or she is free, their monthly obligation is higher than before.

Veterans aren't exempt from any of this and Family Courts have no reasons to show any sympathy to any veteran, disabled or not. The mission of the Court is to protect the interests of the child, nothing more. The Court follows a formula to determine the monthly obligation and that pretty much ends the discussion. If the obligor shows income of (x) and the obligee shows an income of (y) the amount will be determined to be (z) and no more is needed to be heard. Next case!

Each state today requires that most child support be paid to the state agency that enforces such things. This process allows the state to ensure timeliness and accounting of all payments. The good old days of divorcing parents managing to help each other along are mostly a memory and rigid enforcement is all that's left.

Every obligor must understand that to miss the payment to the state office so that the state may distribute the money is a black mark against the obligor. Without the approval of the Court, payments made directly to the obligee that bypass the state are determined to be "gifts" and they do not fulfill the requirement of the divorce decree.

This may be a deadly trap for the disabled veteran. Little known to veterans is a process known as "apportionment".

While a disability compensation payment can't be garnisheed by debtors, all an obligee must do is notify the Regional Office of jurisdiction that a veteran is not meeting alimony or child support payments and the veteran will be notified that the adverse action of apportionment is about to begin. The veteran has some of the usual rights to appeal and to a hearing and so on but absolutely no right to any assistance by the VA. VA will not defend the veteran and if the obligee can reasonably show a current decree and order of support as well as arrearage, the apportionment will proceed.

I received the following message a short time ago. The veteran has granted permission that I use all documents as they are printed so that he may help others to be alert for the pitfalls of apportionment. VAWatchdog dot Org offers our sincere thanks to David Holmes for his generous courage, time and effort to get this word out.

"Dear Jim,

For many years my child support was deducted from my v.a. benefits and it was not applied correctly by the child support agency. When the v.a. and my senator started asking question the child support agency filed a court case against me in the name of my childs mother, she was deceased. What they did was to pose as a dead person to cover up their errors. I will try to send an attachment. I won the case."

As you read through the 2 attachments provided here you should note that the VA has no obligation nor any particular right to send apportioned money to anyone other than the individual who requested the apportionment. Even if the obligee had requested that the money apportioned be delivered to the state child support enforcement agency, it's highly doubtful VA would have complied.

The veteran agreed to the apportionment. In having done that he assumed that his obligation was satisfied and that the custodial parent or obligee would receive the correct amount each month and that it would be simpler accounting on his part.

The state agency later disagreed.

The veteran makes the point that the lengths the Family Courts and the state child support enforcement offices will go to may be reprehensible in any final analysis. After the death of the obligee, the state made the decision to proceed with collections against the veteran even though he had actually overpaid his obligation to the now deceased custodial parent.

There is a lesson to be learned here. No matter what you're told by others and no matter what you may wish to believe, your status as a veteran or as a disabled veteran holds no special immunity or promise of preferential treatment in most legal and financial arenas. As you enter into any financial agreements, whether in a divorce court or elsewhere, it's up to you to know what you're signing up for.

In this case the Department of Veterans Affairs had no reason to be involved in this veterans issues other than to follow its scant rules about apportionment and none of that is designed to help the vet. No matter where you walk, there will be traps.

Pay particular attention to where you tread in the Family Court.


APPORTIONMENT

3.450 General

3.451 Special apportionments.

3.452 Situations when Benefits May be Apportioned

3.453 Veterans compensation or service pension or retirement pay.

3.454 Veterans disability pension.

3.458 Veteran's benefits not apportionable.

3.459 - 3.460 Death compensation. /Death pension.

3.461 Dependency and indemnity compensation.

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