A "gray area" military retiree is qualified for a "non-regular" retirement as a member of the Reserves or National Guard who has been place in the "retired, awaiting pay" status.  Gray area retirees in "retired, awaiting pay" status do not drill, so they accrue no additional points creditable toward retirement.  They do, however, continue...

The Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act (USFSPA), codified at  10 U.S.C. § 1408, grants State Courts the authority to treat only "disposable retired pay" as marital property in military divorce.  Many Servicemembers equate "disposable retired pay" with their "net pay."  That is incorrect.  "Disposable retired pay" is determined before retired...

An Inventory and Appraisement (I&A) is required by Courts in any final hearing that involves division of marital property and confirmation of separate property at divorce.  An I&A conveys three important elements of information about each asset or debt, as follows:

It IDENTIFIES the assets and debts (e.g., a home, ABC Bank...

I recently helped a relative report the death of her husband, a military retiree, since she'd attempted to call DFAS multiple times but was getting nowhere.  I quickly discovered she was calling the wrong phone number, as DFAS has several "customer service" numbers depending on the subject.

While it is possible to report the death...

In military divorce, a former spouse who gets a fixed dollar award (e.g., "former spouse is awarded $1,000.00 per month") will never receive a cost-of-living adjustment or COLA.1    A State Court order that awards a fixed dollar amount and orders COLAs is unenforceable as to the COLAs.  See id.

Author Jim...

Is it possible to get divorced while one or both spouses are in the midst of a bankruptcy proceeding?  Yes, but there are limitations.

Those familiar with bankruptcy law, which is detailed in Title 11 of the United States Code, know that upon the filing of the bankruptcy application, an "automatic stay" goes into effect.1 ...

Texas ranks first with 9.95% or 215,818 of the nation's 2.168 million military retirees living in the Lone Star State.  The top five States with the largest military retiree populations are as follows:

Texas: 215,818 Florida: 202,840Virginia: 157,821 California: 154,736 Georgia: 99,645

Closer to home, approximately 18% or 38,997 of Texas' military retirees live in the...

I recently gave a presentation on the military's new Blended Retirement System (BRS) at the Family Law Bar Association - San Antonio. The paper I wrote is on our website under the "Forms" tab. A lump sum option may be selected by a Servicemember within 90 days of retirement. The first lump sum...

Yes, it can.  The Petitioner or Movant must file a Motion to Modify Post-Divorce Spousal Maintenance in the Court that made the initial order.  Procedures for filing an original suit apply, which means the former spouse receiving maintenance must be served with citation. 

At an evidentiary hearing, the Movant bears the burden of...

Some servicemembers left military service by taking Voluntary Separation Incentive (VSI) pay or Special Separation Bonus (SSB) pay and later returned to military duty and qualified for either an active duty or reserve component retirement.  So, what happens to the VSI or SSB payments the servicemember received?

DFAS will recoup the amount of VSI or...