Activists want change in military divorce law

[unhappycamper]

Activists want change in military divorce law
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, September 28, 2007


ARLINGTON, Va. — Military members and retirees applauded an unusual briefing at the Pentagon on a 1982 law that allows state courts to divide military retirement as property in divorce settlements.

~snip~

The USFSPA allows state courts to consider military retired pay as divisible property in divorce settlements.

~snip~

Wednesday’s briefing was highly unusual, audience members said. Air Force Maj. Janelle Quinn said she had not attended a similar briefing in nearly 20 years in the Air Force.

Quinn said she will have to give 17 percent of her retirement pay to her ex-husband of seven years once she leaves the service next year.

She said that as a personnel officer, she is “highly educated about military benefits,” buy that “the first time I ever heard about this is when I got divorced. The only people who are really educated about it are the JAGs.”

“This is a big complaint I hear from a lot of people,” Benzinger told the audience. “I’m getting the word out. My goal in my job is to keep my soldiers informed.”


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49110



uhc comment: This is an interesting article. We know that divorce rates are up, yet I can't find them. I googled "military divorce rate" and came up with old numbers. Has the divorce rate been classified to hide another issue?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=military+divorce+rate&btnG=Search

http://www.divorcereform.org/mil.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-06-07-soldier-divorces_x.htm (2005 article)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8715876/ (2005 article)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4075270.stm (2005 article)

[babylonsister]

1. This isn't backed up with sources, but I remember this speech

so well from DC in January 07. Here's Sarandon's statistics-she got them from somewhere, so I wouldn't be surprised if the real numbers are being supressed:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/29/1453235

snip//

Here are some staggering facts. One in three homeless Americans are military vets, and that is rising. One in four vets with PTSD sought medical care from the VA, where they experienced a two to three month wait to see a doctor. Over 53,000 are wounded. The ratio of doctors to patients is one doctor for every 500 patients. Veteran males aged 20 to 24 have twice the unemployment rate. 40% of troops currently being rotated are National Guard or reservists. 95% of them are experiencing problems getting their pay. Many are being sent back are on potent anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs with little or no counseling or supervision or screening. Over 200 have committed suicide. There's a 70% divorce rate for returning soldiers. The GOP plan for 2007 drops $65 billion in benefits over the next five years.

[fasttense]

2. This was a major complaint when I retired from the military too.

You hear stories about how cheating and abusive spouses will do anything to delay a divorce, or hide their infidelity, so they can get a bigger piece of the military member's retirement.

I heard about one guy who refused his retirement so his cheating wife wouldn't get half of it.

This follows you even after you are retired. The spouse can still go after your retirement even after you are out of the military.

[Mojorabbit]

4. My little sis

is having to give her ex half of her retirement pay next year when she retires. She did several tours in war zones and earned that pay. I can see both sides. My sis ex had refused all her offers to help him go to college when they were together and even after they separated but he prefered to work menial jobs and let her support him.

Now she will have to work as she can't live on half her retirement pay. On the other hand lots of guys marry women who never have a chance to shine on their own as they pick up and move every few years as their spouses are transfered and deserve some of the retirement bennies.
Hard call.

[ret5hd]

3. So, do we have a problem with this if the retirement is from a private employer?

Or only if it is military retirement?

[unhappycamper]

5. The problem, as I see it, is that the military divorce rates are substantially higher than the rest

of the US population. With constant back to back deployments to Iraq, it's expected.

What's interesting is there's little if any reporting on those statistics. Why not? Why must the military suffer an abnormally high divorce rate? They are entitled to Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness, and it appears that is not happening. That's what I have a problem with.

[TahitiNut]

6. Divorced (ex-)spouses can get Social Security based on their former spouse's earnings ...

... if they were married for over 10 years, but it dos NOT reduce the benefits to that former spouse. Since military pay has provisions (benefits) for married service members, offering extra allotments, I wonder why a similar benefit couldn't be offered for retirement pay that brought into consideration the number of years married and whether that time included time the former spouse was in the service.