U.S. Military (Ret.): Can I claim spouse benefit without contacting ex-husband? - Military Retirement - Navy Times

U.S. Military (Ret.): Can I claim spouse benefit without contacting ex-husband?

Q. I am the ex-spouse of an Air Force enlisted retiree. I have not spoken to him in over six years. However, in our divorce decree, I was granted a portion of his retirement pay. He is now retired and I have no way to contact him without going through our children. Is there any way to claim the money through the military without having to be directly involved with him? I would not mind that myself, but I’m under the impression that he would mind. We were divorced 13 years ago. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

A. Former spouses may receive a court-ordered portion of a service member’s military retirement pay directly from the government only if two specific conditions are met:

• The marriage lasted at least 10 years.

• The marriage overlapped with the retiree’s military service for at least 10 years.

If those two requirements are met, you can apply for direct payments from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Information on how to do that can be found by clicking here.

If both conditions are not met, DFAS, by law, cannot directly pay you the court-ordered portion of your ex-husband’s retired pay. In that case, you would have to deal directly with your ex-husband to make payment arrangements.

If, for some reason, he resists meeting the conditions of the divorce decree, your only recourse would be to hire an attorney and take him back to court.

The Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act is the applicable law in such situations. That law does not automatically give former spouses any portion of service members’ retirement pay. Rather, it permits state courts to treat military retired pay as divisible marital property in a divorce action.

Q. My husband, a retired Navy master chief, died a few years ago. He divorced me twice during our 25 years of marriage. We still lived together even though we were divorced, and we remarried each time. After 25 years with him, he left me with bills I could not pay, and I lost my house to foreclosure. I was married to him at the time of his death. We were married for more than 10 years total, but it wasn’t 10 years in a row. Am I entitled to any part of his retirement now?

A. I am sorry to tell you that you have no recourse in this situation for the simple reason that, with your husband now deceased, he is no longer collecting any military retirement pay for you to share in.

At the time of either of your two divorces, you could have tried to get the state court to issue a decree granting you a portion of his military retirement while he was still alive, but again, that’s water under the bridge now.