Ask June > , , > Ex-husband doesn’t know best

Ex-husband doesn’t know best

February 7, 2013 • J.J. Montanaro

Q: My ex-husband retired from the Navy about 5 years ago. We were mar­ried for 13 years. Our divorce papers state that I am to receive 50% of the retire­ment. He and I had a ver­bal agree­ment that he would pay me child sup­port then once the chil­dren were grown con­tinue to pay the retire­ment directly to me. I did not sub­mit paper­work to DFAS to claim the retire­ment before he retired. I have remar­ried. He stopped send­ing my por­tion this month. Is it too late to sub­mit paper­work to DFAS now that he has retired? He told me that because I remar­ried and have not done any­thing that I can­not touch the retirement.

–Rachelle, For­mer spouse

 

A: Thank­fully, your ver­bal agree­ment is backed up by the divorce decree. While I’m sure that he wishes that you could not touch the retire­ment ben­e­fits since you remar­ried, that’s gen­er­ally not the case. It’s def­i­nitely not too late to con­tact DFAS. The one dead­line that I’m aware of is asso­ci­ated with the Sur­vivor Ben­e­fit Plan. In other words, if the divorce decree required him to pro­tect the retire­ment so that at least a por­tion of it would con­tinue to you if he passed away DFAS must be noti­fied within a year of the divorce. How­ever, as far as I’m aware, there’s no such dead­line as to the divi­sion of mil­i­tary retire­ment as prop­erty under the USFSPA. In fact, if your 13 year mar­riage included at least ten years in which he was serv­ing, you should be eli­gi­ble for direct pay­ment from DFAS. So, pull together your divorce paper­work, read these instruc­tions from DFAS, and get the ball rolling. Happy New Year.

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3 responses to “Ex-husband doesn’t know best”

  1. guest
    February 13, 2013 at 8:55 pm |

    unless her decree also had the clause writ­ten in that pay­ments end upon remarriage.

  2. Jeanne Fanning
    April 10, 2013 at 3:00 am |

    My hus­band and are are about to begin divorce pro­ceed­ings. We have been mar­ried for 31 years, We were both on active duty, he retired with 22 years and I sep­a­rated. Does the court deter­mine how much of his retire­ment check how much alimony I receive?

  3. John
    May 11, 2013 at 7:12 pm |

    Me and my ex wife were mar­ried almost 13 years (all in the Mil­i­tary) when she wanted a divorce we got it done. In the Divorce Decree it states she waives her rights to my Mil­i­tary Pen­sion. Since it is in the divorce decree can she change her mind and say she wants it now? she always threat­ens me by say­ing she will take it. The divorce has been final since Oct 2011.

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