I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1983

To amend title 10, United States Code, to revise the rules relating to the

court-ordered apportionment of the retired pay of members of the Armed

Forces to former spouses, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 24, 2001

Mr. BALLENGER (for himself, Mr. STUMP, Ms. WATERS, Mr. RADANOVICH,

Mr. SCHROCK, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. CONDIT, Mr. RAHALL,

Mr. PAUL, Mr. MICA, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. SUNUNU, Mrs.

MYRICK, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. PICKERING, and Mr. EHRLICH) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee

concerned

A BILL

To amend title 10, United States Code, to revise the rules

relating to the court-ordered apportionment of the retired

pay of members of the Armed Forces to former spouses,

and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Uniformed Services

5 Former Spouses Equity Act of 2001’’.
2

•HR 1983 IH

1 SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF PAYMENTS UPON REMARRIAGE

2 OF FORMER SPOUSE.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1408(c) of title 10,

4 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the

5 following new paragraph:

6 ‘‘(5) Payment from the monthly disposable retired

7 pay of a member to a former spouse of the member pursu8 ant to this section shall terminate upon the remarriage

9 of that former spouse, except to the extent that the

10 amount of such payment includes an amount other than

11 an amount resulting from the treatment by the court

12 under paragraph (1) of disposable retired pay of the mem13 ber as property of the member or property of the member

14 and his spouse. Any such termination shall be effective

15 as of the last day of the month in which the remarriage

16 occurs.’’.

17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

18 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to marriages termi19 nated by court orders issued before, on, or after the date

20 of the enactment of this Act. In the case of such a court

21 order issued before the date of the enactment of this Act,

22 such amendment shall apply only with respect to amounts

23 of a member’s retired pay that are payable for months

24 beginning more than 180 days after the date of the enact25 ment of this Act.
3

•HR 1983 IH

1 SEC. 3. AWARD OF RETIRED PAY TO BE BASED ON RETIR2 EE’S LENGTH OF SERVICE AND PAY GRADE

3 AT TIME OF DIVORCE.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1408(c) of title 10,

5 United States Code, as amended by section 2, is further

6 amended by adding at the end the following new para7 graph:

8 ‘‘(6) In the case of a member as to whom a final de9 cree of divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation

10 is issued before the date on which the member begins to

11 receive retired pay, the disposable retired pay of the mem12 ber that a court may treat in the manner described in

13 paragraph (1) shall be computed based on the pay grade,

14 and the length of service of the member while married,

15 that are creditable toward entitlement to basic pay and

16 to retired pay as of the date of the final decree. Amounts

17 so calculated shall be increased by the cumulative percent18 age of increases in retired pay between the date of the

19 final decree and the effective date of the member’s retire20 ment.’’.

21 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—With respect to payments to

22 a former spouse from a member’s disposable retired pay

23 pursuant to court orders issued before the date of the en24 actment of this Act, the Secretary shall—

25 (1) within 90 days of such date, recompute the

26 amounts of those payments in accordance with para-
4

•HR 1983 IH

1 graph (5) of section 1408(c) of title 10, United

2 States Code, as added by subsection (a); and

3 (2) within 180 days of such date, adjust the

4 amount of disposable retired pay payable to that

5 former spouse accordingly.

6 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

7 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to court orders

8 issued on or after June 25, 1981.

9 SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON TIME FOR SEEKING DIVISION OF

10 RETIRED PAY.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c)(4) of section 1408

12 of title 10, United States Code, is amended to read as

13 follows:

14 ‘‘(4) A court may not after the date of the enactment

15 of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Equity Act of

16 2001 treat the disposable retired pay of a member in the

17 manner described in paragraph (1) unless—

18 ‘‘(A) the court has jurisdiction over the member

19 by reason of (i) the member’s residence, other than

20 because of military assignment, in the territorial ju21 risdiction of the court, (ii) the member’s domicile in

22 the territorial jurisdiction of the court, or (iii) the

23 member’s consent to the jurisdiction of the court;

24 and
5

•HR 1983 IH

1 ‘‘(B) the member’s spouse or former spouse ob2 tains a court order for apportionment of the retired

3 pay of the member not later than (i) two years after

4 the date of final decree of divorce, dissolution, an5 nulment, or legal separation, including a court or6 dered, ratified, or approved property settlement inci7 dent to such a decree, or (ii) the end of the six8 month period beginning on the date of the enact9 ment of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses

10 Equity Act of 2001, whichever is later.’’.

11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

12 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to final decrees of

13 divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation issued

14 on or after June 25, 1981.

15 SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON APPORTIONMENT OF DISABILITY

16 PAY WHEN RETIRED PAY HAS BEEN WAIVED.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (e)(4) of section 1408

18 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at

19 the end the following new subparagraph:

20 ‘‘(C) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a

21 court may not treat as part of the disposable retired pay

22 of a member under this section or as part of amounts to

23 be paid pursuant to legal processes under section 459 of

24 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 659) amounts which

25 are deducted from the retired pay of such member as a
6

•HR 1983 IH

1 result of a waiver of retired pay required by law in order

2 to receive compensation under title 38.’’.

3 (b) AMENDMENTS TO SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.—Sec4 tion 459(h) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 659(h))

5 is amended—

6 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)(ii)—

7 (A) by inserting ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub8 clause (III);

9 (B) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub10 clause (IV); and

11 (C) by striking subclause (V); and

12 (2) in paragraph (2)—

13 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (E)

14 and (F) as subparagraphs (F) and (G), respec15 tively; and

16 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (D)

17 the following new subparagraph:

18 ‘‘(E) are paid by the Secretary of Veterans

19 Affairs as compensation for a service-connected

20 disability under title 38, United States Code,

21 when military retired pay has been waived in

22 order to receive such compensation;’’.

23 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

24 subsections (a) and (b) shall apply to court orders and

25 legal processes issued on or after June 25, 1981. In the
7

•HR 1983 IH

1 case of a court order or legal process issued before the

2 date of the enactment of this Act, such amendments shall

3 apply only with respect to retired pay payable for months

4 beginning on or after the date of the enactment of this

5 Act.

Æ