Spousal Support After 31 Year Old Divorce

[4099foxboro]

My question involves marriage in the State of Ohio and divorce in Rome, Georgia.

After being married in 1973 in Dayton, Ohio, the Air Force husband received a no fault divorce in Rome, Georgia in 1977. The husband is now retired from the service. The young wife never received any spousal support or alimony and did not have her own attorney, at the time of divorce, due to lack of funds. The question is can she petition his retirement now for spousal support.

Incidently, he lied in court stating that they separated in 1975 but they did not. She has all my paperwork including papers he sent the wife in 1976 asking her to join him.

Thank you.

[gigirle]

The question is can she petition his retirement now for spousal support.

Ah no. Based on what? That he has money now so let me try and get half?

You signed papers and agreed to a no fault divorce. If you felt he was at fault than you should have found a way to pay for an attorney at the time and fought him.

Incidently, your also assuming that you would have been entitled to more, you were only married 5 yrs total. Georgia is an equitable distrubition state (not sure what it was in 1977) meaning that the court likely would have made an equal distribution of the assets. If you wanted to seek alimony or spousal support you should have had the same access to the military legal department as your husband at the time.

You would have had to have this written in the original divorce and if I'm not mistaken, that military rule hasn't changed. You would have had to been married to him at least 10 years of his active duty service to be entitiled to any of his retirement. This also doesn't mean that you would have gotten it.
Even if he lied in court...Honey, it's been 31 years...more than enough time to move on.

[Justcomply]

The 10 year rule is sooooo misunderstood!

Yes, spouse is entitled to a portion of his retirement, whether they were married 30 years ago and only for a couple of years.

Please call or research this site for more answers: http://www.dfas.mil/retiredpay.html

The 10 year rule ONLY means that DFAS (Defense Finance and Accounting Service) WILL send you a CHECK from them! Period! They will raise your check on every COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) that he gets.

If you were married for one year to 9.99 years then you are owed a check from the retiree. Period.

LESS then 10 years, it must come from Retiree! (ugh)

If retiree refuses to pay, just go to your local Court House, they should have free Attorney's for advice. They will direct you as to what forms to fill out and file.

You are owed a percentage of ex spouses retirement, DO NOT EXCEPT A SET AMOUNT! If there is a set amount that is all you get, forever and ever!

If you stick with your calculated amount (%) then as it increases, so does yours.

Please spread the word about the 10 year MYTH! They are trying to have it changed.

So, many spouses have been cheated out of "THEIR" share because of this MYTH !

My Ex pulled all this BS on me, but I AM entitled to that benefit. She anchored her career because of my Love and dedication to her and her Career.

As long as you were married during their Active Duty, then you ARE

God Speed ! You'll be JUST fine! Please email me at fnjpar@hotmail.com if I can be of future assistant! Stay strong!
t

[HawaiiMom]

The 10 year rule is sooooo misunderstood!

Yes, spouse is entitled to a portion of his retirement, whether they were married 30 years ago and only for a couple of years.

Please call or research this site for more answers: http://www.dfas.mil/retiredpay.html

The 10 year rule ONLY means that DFAS (Defense Finance and Accounting Service) WILL send you a CHECK from them! Period! They will raise your check on every COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) that he gets.

If you were married for one year to 9.99 years then you are owed a check from the retiree. Period.

LESS then 10 years, it must come from Retiree! (ugh)

If retiree refuses to pay, just go to your local Court House, they should have free Attorney's for advice. They will direct you as to what forms to fill out and file.

You are owed a percentage of ex spouses retirement, DO NOT EXCEPT A SET AMOUNT! If there is a set amount that is all you get, forever and ever!

If you stick with your calculated amount (%) then as it increases, so does yours.

Please spread the word about the 10 year MYTH! They are trying to have it changed.

So, many spouses have been cheated out of "THEIR" share because of this MYTH !

My Ex pulled all this BS on me, but I AM entitled to that benefit. She anchored her career because of my Love and dedication to her and her Career.

As long as you were married during their Active Duty, then you ARE

God Speed ! You'll be JUST fine! Please email me at fnjpar@hotmail.com if I can be of future assistant! Stay strong!
t

I beg to differ. If you are referring to the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act (USFSPA Title 10 USC 1408), you might want to go back to the same DFAS website you listed and read it again.

This code was enacted in 1981, and nowhere does it state that under The Act, and pertaining to the original poster's circumstances, that they can now come back after a 31 year old divorce after having been married ONLY 4 years, and benefit financially from the retired service member.

"The Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act (the Act), 10 U.S.C 1408, recognizes the right of state courts to distribute military retired pay to a spouse or former spouse and provides a method of enforcing these orders through the Department of Defense. The Act itself does not provide for an automatic entitlement to a portion of the member's retired pay to a former spouse. A former spouse must have been awarded a portion of member's military retired pay as property in their final decree of divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation (the court order). The Act also provides a method of enforcing current child support and/or arrears and current alimony awarded in the court order".

"In addition, for orders dividing retired pay as property to be enforced under the Act, a member and former spouse must have been married to each other for at least 10 years during which the member performed at least 10 years of creditable military service (the 10/10 rule)." These quotes are listed straight off the DFAS website and can be found in the fact sheet listed under "garnishment" and "retired military".

I find it extremely ironic that this reply was posted today, since I had been researching the USFSPA all day long. Unfortunately my husband was married to a greedy ex-wife, who is now trying to enforce this law (with our lovely state court laws & jurisdiction!) to rob him blind once again. And how fortunate for her that we live in a "No Fault" state, otherwise her blatant adultery would have stopped her cold from gaining financially in other ways she already has. She filed for divorce (while cheating) just one month before their 20th year anniversary, and he had just made 20 years of military service, just so that she could get her hands on his retirement, and at a higher rate at that!

The USFSPA is flawed, and is being abused because it affords a spouse/ex-spouse the same benefit as the actual military member. And I personally think it's a damn shame how some ex-spouses are able to benefit from this, REGARDLESS of my husband's situation.

Now that my personal rant is over , the original poster does not qualify for this benefit under the USFSPA, nor does it seem that they were specifically awarded a portion of the service member's retired military pay as property.