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How benefit transfers will work

Transferring Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to family members — a feature demanded by the Bush administration to blunt the generous new program’s potential drain on retention — is one of the murkiest aspects of the package because the law leaves all major decisions to the Pentagon, which has not decided anything.

Defense officials have wide flexibility to decide who, if anyone, may be eligible, and what conditions might be placed on transfer rights. Decisions on these kinds of issues are not expected to be made until after a new president takes office in January.

However, the law does provide some basic guidelines, including the minimum length of service required to be eligible for transfer rights and the minimum amount of benefits that could be transferred:

• Eligibility. A spouse could receive transferred benefits if the service member completes six years of either active or reserve service and agrees to serve at least four more years. Children could not receive transferred benefits until the member completes at least 10 years of service.

Benefits that could be transferred include basic GI Bill payments and the new housing and book allowances.

• Transfer rules. Transferred benefits could be shared by more than one person. The transfer order, which must be in writing, could designate who receives benefits, the number of months they are allotted, and how long they would have to use the benefits before they revert back to the service member. If transfer rights are offered, a service member must be allowed to transfer a minimum 18 of their 36 months of benefits.

• Time limits. A spouse using a member’s benefits would be constrained by the same 15-year post-service limit that applies to a member, but children using benefits would not have to use them within the 15-year period.

The different expiration rules for children do not allow members to extend their own benefits window by transferring GI Bill rights to a son or daughter if the veteran never uses them; a transfer decision could only be made while still in the military, before the 15-year post-service clock even starts.

• Legal requirements. Only a member’s current spouse could receive benefits, although the law does not specify whether a couple would have to remain married for the full time a spouse uses a member’s benefits.

However, the law stipulates that GI Bill benefits cannot be treated as marital property, a provision intended to prevent a court from requiring the transfer as part of divorce or child custody proceedings.

Children must be the member’s own, by birth or adoption, and cannot receive benefits unless they are either 18 years old or have a high school diploma.

Also, children could not use transferred benefits after they reach age 26.