USFSPA 2014 Proposals for Change
Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act
The American Retirees Association is one of the organizations pushing forward with proposals to change the USFSPA. They recently posted their current objectives: their intention to call on the 113th Congress prior to the markup of the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act. (See their entire proposal list below.)
One topic on their agenda is addressing the subject of remarriage, which we have also recently discussed.
The ARA is proposing to add “unremarried” before “former husband or wife” in the 10 USC § 1408 – Payment of retired or retainer pay in compliance with court orders section shown below:
(6) The term “spouse or former spouse” means the husband or wife, or former husband or wife, respectively, of a member who, on or before the date of a court order, was married to that member.
This would cease the division of pay upon remarriage and in some cases impact SBP and medical care that some former military spouses are awarded in their court orders.
This item is only the first the ARA list shown below. We won’t cover each item in this post, but wish to re-emphasize how important it is for military spouses (current and former) to pay attention to these types of proposals for USFSPA changes.
Please do send us more information to share by completing our contact form.
Stay Current on 2013 USFSPA Proposals
The best way to stay informed on these issues is to Sign up for our mailing list.
Some of you are only subscribed through our RSS feed which means you will receive notifications ONLY of blog posts (by either email or through a reader such as Google-reader).
Some of you may only be following us on Facebook where you rely on Facebook’s algorithm. This means Facebook is in control. Facebook will decide if our posts appear in your Facebook news feed. (They determine this based on how often you interact with our page through likes, shares, and comments.) In addition, not every blog post feeds into Facebook, so Facebook is a good – but not the best way to keep in touch.
After exploring many social media avenues to maintain contact with service members and military spouses, we’ve determined that the new mailing list is the best, 100% sure way to stay in contact. Click here to join our list.
ARA 2013 USFSPA Proposals
if they remarry, it ENDS!..I for one am sick and tired of funding her new husbands lifestyle!.. So, it’s Aug 2015, what’s the status of getting this fixed? Or is this an outdated web site?
Hi Don, I’m sorry you are frustrated with the updated information on this site. We try to post new information as it becomes available. All readers are invited to share links in the comments to new 2015 or upcoming 2016 USFSPA proposals and we can incorporate them into new articles.
U think the usfspa can be a good law to protect spouses who gave up careers to follow their nilitary spouse. I think most spouses have violated the spirit of the law as it was intended. My ex did not give up a career to follow me. in fact, she was able to get a jod and education to further her career while we were married. Now she has a career and most of my pension and benefits while I am disabled, jobless, practically homeless. this law is unfair!
Thank you for sharing. Every case is different, which is why it’s difficult to have a law that will be applicable to everyone.
the core cause of these veterans homelessness is the family court judges. the veteran come back from war disabled,with hands or legs missing. and the wife or husband says i don’t need this, and file for divorce, and the family court judge gives the divorcee 50 to 65 percent of the veterans disability.because the congress wrote the law and left it up to the family court judges to interpret the law. the family court don’t care where the support money come from,and don’t care about the veterans disabilities. a large part of family court judges are lawyers off the street and never been in the military.who care about the veteran, we live in a free county.
This is a common spoken argument – that divorce causes veterans to be homeless. I’m unaware of a particular study and if there is one, I wonder if they also ran a comparable study for the homeless former military spouse.
The USFSPA discriminatory and needs to be repeal or thrown out completely and here is why? it applies to eight states and the U.S. Armed Forces only, and our own Congress got us all our veteran into this mess to start with, when they circumvented the Supreme Courts desicion almost 29 years ago. Also, I really, really, really advise everyone to get support from their local media instead. Some of our own state representatives are not doing and are not going to do anything about this abuse tours our nation veterans. Lastly, this matter is no different from the current situation happeneing with the VA and veterans health care, because veterans are going to jail and committing suicide to deny state court judges and attorney’s from taking veterans benefits pay away to put it in the former spouses pocket, regardless. Another thing is that it also has to do with veterans affairs (disability and retire/retainer benefits pay), and should be a big concern for responsible parties, those who make big desicions to immediately act on behalf of our nations veterans, so lets continue to fight for what is right and do not give up, good day folks and good bless all of you all those support groups that are alo fighting for our own veterans.
I’m unaware of any change that makes the USFSPA apply to only 8 states. Please post a URL discussing this. Thanks for sharing. We appreciate your time.
USFSPA has taken I/2 retirement for 27 years, former spouse has remarried If I die she should continue to receive this Alimony for the rest of her life and give to her new Husband after her death. All because I served 20 years in the Military ..30 years ago. .how Dumb would that be? Get real for the Vet set a limit. I also paid child support . My youngest is now 42
The USFSPA is an abandondment of military rights in court. The Service member is always targeted by State Courts. The Ex nonmilitary member makes off with our hard earned retirement. The EX is remarried and they make a decent living. I have Stage 4 cancer and the courts are trying to take that. I pray theses changes come soon for all of us.. Thank you!!!
USFSPA is a total abuse to any retired veteran because this law does not take into accout for the income earning potental for a former spouse. My former spouse holds a PhD and makes well over $100,000 annually. She certainly does not need the a portion my retired pay provides. This law makes me feel like no one in congress cares about our honorable service and the benefits we earned.
md
I totally agree that the USFPA needs to be updated to the current times. My ex-wife remarried a couple of years after our divorce. He is in a position to provide for her needs. I feel like this guy is living off my retirement. Why should he get benefit from my retirement.
Is this proposal really gonna happen? if so, when? that is a outdated law.
YES! This is such a great injustice to have PERMANENT ALIMONY! Now that 20% of the force is women and these ladies are retiring and having to support deadbeat ex-husbands, it is gaining some headway!
Yes more needs to be done as well as a retroactive ruling to all previous discriminated veterans
I fully agree that changes to the usfspa law are way overdue. I have been divorced for 22 years and was married to my former spouse 19. She has remarried twice and still receives 50 percent of my retirement benefits.
When is enough enough!
Join the club brother. My ex is getting 45% of my retirement pay including disability. She’s back in Germany and remarried. She hasen’t allowed me to see my daughter in 7 years and placed a restraining order against me without legal representation. It’s a shame that foreigners get more rights in the U.S. then its own citizens. Her and her current husband are laughing all the way to the bank and paying of their home through my blood, sweat and tears.
PLEASE allow this to be changed! I am retiring in 44 days and my ex wife who has been remarried twice since we divorced five years ago is entitled to 37% of my retirement even thou she received three college degrees while with me that I helped with and payed for. She not once attended a Family Support Group or even attended any of my promotions. Not sure why her and her new husband she be able to live off of my retirement!
this law needs to be changed, it was written a long time ago without any thought of the direction our civil courts would go in, I can see the USFSPA being an option if every military divorce case was heard all the way through in court and the judges could rule based on testimony from the case, but that s not the way things have turned out, divorce lawyers use the USFPA in a very negative way and have corrupted the entire use of the USFSPA.
My spouse supported herself on my pay. She had her wedding and bankruptcy planned before the divorce was final. She and her new husband declared bankruptcy 1 year after the divorce nullifying any agreement that was in the divorce agreement and leaving me with all the bills. And for this, she is getting half my retirement pay?
I was this man’s support system for over 20 years, took care of finances, children, moving, housing, pushed him to complete his college degree and supported him through good times and bad and so much more both at home and while he was away. I think us spouses have earned the right to get our share of the retirement pay when our husbands decide to take up with another woman after retirement, who will end up reaping the benefits without having been an active duty navy wife a single day of their lives.
this needs to be changed and is long over due lets get on the4 ball and get this act passed the sooner the better
These changes are long overdue. Kudos to the ARA