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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 410', '§ 1447', '§ 1448', '§ 4800', '§ 231', '§ 231', '§ 802', '§ 106', '§ 2771', '§ 2771', '§ 2771', '§ 1434', '§ 1450', '§ 8', '§ 701', '§ 701', '§ 701', '§ 2771']

MCCARTY V. MCCARTY, 453 U. S. 210 - Volume 453 - 1981 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 453 > MCCARTY V. MCCARTY, 453 U. S. 210 (1981) > Full Text
BLACKMUN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and WHITE, MARSHALL, POWELL, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. REHNQUIST, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BRENNAN and STEWART, JJ., joined, post, p. 453 U. S. 236.
The impetus for this legislation was the need to encourage or force the retirement of officers who were not fit for wartime duty. [Footnote 2] Women and Retirement at 15. Thus, from
Under current law, there are three basic forms of military retirement: nondisability retirement; disability retirement; and reserve retirement. See id. at 4. For our present purposes, only the first of these three forms is relevant. [Footnote 4] Since each of the military services has substantially the same nondisability retirement system, see id. at 5, the Army's system may be taken as typical. [Footnote 5] An Army officer who has 20 years of service, at least 10 of which have been active service as a commissioned officer, may request that the Secretary of the
The nondisability retirement system is noncontributory, in that neither the service member nor the Federal Government makes periodic contributions to any fund during the period of active service; instead, retired pay is funded by annual appropriations. Military Retirement Hearings, at 5. In contrast, since 1957, military personnel have been required to contribute to the Social Security System. Pub.L. 84-881, 70 Stat. 870. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 410(1) and (m). Upon satisfying the necessary age requirements, the Army retiree, the
Because the RSFPP was self-financing, it required the deduction of a substantial portion of the service member's retired pay; consequently, only about 15% of eligible military retirees participated in the plan. See H.R.Rep. No. 92-481, pp. 4-5 (1971); S.Rep. No. 92-1089, p. 11 (1972). In order to remedy this situation. Congress enacted the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) in 1972. Pub.L. 92-425, 86 Stat. 706, codified as amended at 10 U.S.C. §§ 1447-1455 (1976 ed. and Supp. IV). Participation in this plan is automatic unless the service member chooses to opt out. § 1448(a).
Appellant and appellee separated on October 31, 1976. On December 1 of that year, appellant filed a petition in the Superior Court of California in and for the City and County of San Francisco requesting dissolution of the marriage. Under California law, a court granting dissolution of a marriage must divide "the community property and the quasi-community property of the parties." Cal.Civ.Code Ann. § 4800(a) (West Supp.1981). Like seven other States, California treats all property earned by either spouse during the marriage as community property; each spouse is deemed to make an equal contribution to the marital enterprise, and therefore each is entitled to share equally in its assets. See
In his dissolution petition, appellant requested that all listed assets, including "[a]ll military retirement benefits," be confirmed to him as his separate property. App. 2. In her response, appellee also requested dissolution of the marriage, but contended that appellant had no separate property, and that therefore his military retirement benefits were "subject to disposition by the court in this proceeding." [Footnote 8] Id. at 9. On November 23, 1977, the Superior Court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law holding that appellant was entitled to an interlocutory judgment dissolving
Appellant sought review of the portion of the Superior Court's decree that awarded appellee an interest in the retired pay. The California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, however, affirmed the award. App. to Juris.Statement 32. In so ruling, the court declined to accept appellant's contention that, because the federal scheme of military retirement benefits preempts state community property laws, the Supremacy Clause, U.S.Const., Art. VI, cl. 2, precluded the trial court from awarding appellee a portion of his retired pay. [Footnote 9] The court noted that this precise contention had
We postponed jurisdiction. 449 U.S. 917 (1980). We have now concluded that this case properly falls within our appellate jurisdiction, [Footnote 12] and we therefore proceed to the merits.
Hisquierdo, 439 U.S. at 439 U. S. 581, with references to United States v. Yazell, 382 U. S. 341, 382 U. S. 352 (1966). See also Alessi v. Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., 451 U. S. 504, 451 U. S. 522 (1981). In Hisquierdo, we concluded that California's application of community property principles to Railroad Retirement Act benefits worked such an injury to federal interests. The "critical terms" of the federal statute relied upon in reaching that conclusion included provisions establishing "a specified beneficiary protected by a flat prohibition against attachment and anticipation," see 45 U.S.C. § 231m, and a limited community property concept that terminated upon divorce, see 45 U.S.C. § 231d. 439 U.S. at 439 U. S. 582-585. Appellee argues that no such provisions are to be found in the statute presently under consideration, and that therefore Hisquierdo is inapposite. But Hisquierdo did not hold that only the particular statutory terms there considered would justify a finding
Appellant correctly notes that military retired pay differs in some significant respects from a typical pension or retirement plan. The retired officer remains a member of the Army, see United States v. Tyler, 105 U. S. 244 (1882), [Footnote 13] and
continues to be subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, see 10 U.S.C. § 802 (4). See also Hooper v. United States, 164 Ct.Cl. 151, 326 F.2d 982, cert. denied, 377 U.S. 977 (1964). In addition, he may forfeit all or part of his retired pay if he engages in certain activities. [Footnote 14] Finally, the retired officer remains subject to recall to active duty by the Secretary of the Army "at any time." Pub.L. 96-513, § 106, 94 Stat. 2868. These factors have led several courts, including this one, to conclude that military retired pay is reduced compensation for reduced current services. In United States v. Tyler, 105 U.S. at 105 U. S. 245, the Court stated that retired pay is "compensation . . . continued at a reduced rate, and the connection is continued, with a retirement from active service only." [Footnote 15]
Having said all this, we need not decide today whether federal law prohibits a State from characterizing retired pay as deferred compensation, since we agree with appellant's alternative argument that the application of community property law conflicts with the federal military retirement scheme regardless of whether retired pay is defined as current or as deferred compensation. [Footnote 16] The statutory language is straightforward:
Appellee argues that Congress' use of the term "personal entitlement" in this context signifies only that retired pay ceases upon the death of the service member. But several features of the statutory schemes governing military pay demonstrate that Congress did not use the term in so limited a fashion. First, the service member may designate a beneficiary to receive any unpaid arrearages in retired pay upon his death. 10 U.S.C. § 2771. [Footnote 17] The service member is free
to designate someone other than his spouse or ex-spouse as the beneficiary; further, the statute expressly provides that "[a] payment under this section bars recovery by any other person of the amount paid." § 2771(d). In Wissner v. Wissner, 338 U. S. 655 (1950), this Court considered an analogous statutory scheme. Under the National Service Life Insurance Act, an insured service member had the right to designate the beneficiary of his policy. Id. at 338 U. S. 658. Wissner held that California could not award a service member's widow half the proceeds of a life insurance policy, even though the source of the premium -- the member's Army pay -- was characterized as community property under California law. The Court reserved the question whether California is "entitled to call army pay community property," id. at 338 U. S. 657, n. 2, since it found that Congress had "spoken with force and clarity in directing that the proceeds belong to the named beneficiary, and no other." Id. at 338 U. S. 658. In the present context, Congress has stated with "force and clarity" that a beneficiary under § 2771 claims an interest in the retired
Second, the language, structure, and legislative history of the RSFPP and the SBP also demonstrate that retired pay is a "personal entitlement." While retired pay ceases upon the death of the service member, the RSFPP and the SBP allow the service member to reduce his or her retired pay in order to provide an annuity for the surviving spouse or children. Under both plans, however, the service member is free to elect to provide no annuity at all, or to provide an annuity payable only to the surviving children, and not to the spouse. See 10 U.S.C. § 1434 (1976 ed. and Supp. IV) (RSFPP); § 1450 (1976 ed. and Supp. IV) (SBP). Here again, it is clear that, if retired pay were community property, the service member could not so deprive the spouse of his or her interest in the property. [Footnote 18] But we need not rely on this implicit conflict alone, for both the language of the statutes [Footnote 19] and their legislative history make it clear that the
Moreover, such a division would have the anomalous effect of placing an ex-spouse in a better position than that of a widower or a widow under the RSFPP and the SBP. [Footnote 21] Appellee
Third, and finally, it is clear that Congress intended that military retired pay "actually reach the beneficiary." See Hisquierdo, 439 U.S. at 439 U. S. 584. Retired pay cannot be attached to satisfy a property settlement incident to the dissolution of a marriage. [Footnote 22] In enacting the SBP, Congress rejected
to a pro rata share of Foreign Service retirement benefits. [Footnote 24] Thus, the Civil Service amendments require the United States to recognize the community property division of Civil Service retirement benefits by a state court, while the Foreign Service amendments establish a limited federal community property concept. Significantly, however, while similar legislation affecting military retired pay was introduced in the 96th Congress, none of those bills was reported out of committee. [Footnote 25] Thus, in striking contrast to its amendment
We conclude, therefore, that there is a conflict between the terms of the federal retirement statutes and the community property right asserted by appellee here. But "[a] mere conflict in words is not sufficient"; the question remains whether the "consequences [of that community property right] sufficiently injure the objectives of the federal program to require nonrecognition." Hisquierdo, 439 U.S. at 439 U. S. 581-583. This inquiry, however, need be only a brief one, for it is manifest that the application of community property principles to military retired pay threatens grave harm to "clear and substantial" federal interests. See United States v. Yazell, 382 U.S. at 382 U. S. 352. Under the Constitution, Congress has the power "[t]o raise and support Armies," "[t]o provide and maintain a Navy," and "[t]o makes Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces." U.S.Const., Art. I, § 8, cls. 12, 13, and 14. See generally Rostker v. Goldberg, ante at 453 U. S. 59. Pursuant to this grant of authority, Congress has enacted a military retirement system designed to accomplish two major goals: to provide for the retired service member, and to meet the personnel management
In the first place, the community property interest appellee seeks "promises to diminish that portion of the benefit Congress has said should go to the retired [service member] alone." See Hisquierdo, 439 U.S. at 439 U. S. 590. State courts are not free to reduce the amounts that Congress has determined are necessary for the retired member. Furthermore, the community property division of retired pay may disrupt the carefully balanced scheme Congress has devised to encourage a service member to set aside a portion of his or her retired pay as an annuity for a surviving spouse or dependent children. By diminishing the amount available to the retiree, a community property division makes it less likely that the retired service member will choose to reduce his or her retired pay still further by purchasing an annuity for the surviving spouse, if any, or children. In McCune v. Essig, 199 U. S. 382 (1905), the Court held that federal law, which permitted a widow to patent federal land entered by her husband, prevailed over the interest in the patent asserted by the daughter under state inheritance law; the Court noted that the daughter's contention "reverses the order of the statute and gives the children an interest paramount to that of the widow through the laws of the State." Id. at 199 U. S. 389. So here, the right appellee asserts "reverses the order of the statute" by giving the ex-spouse an interest paramount to that of the surviving spouse and children of the service member; indeed, at least one court (in a noncommunity property State) has gone so far as to hold that the heirs of the ex-spouse may even inherit her interest in military retired pay. See In re Miller, ___ Mont. ___, 609 P.2d 1185 (1980), cert. pending sub nom. Miller v. Miller, No. 80-291. Clearly, "[t]he law of the State is not competent to do this." McCune v. Essig, 199 U.S. at 199 U. S. 389.
The potential for disruption of military personnel management is equally clear. As has been noted above, the military retirement system is designed to serve as an inducement for enlistment and reenlistment, to create an orderly career path, and to ensure "youthful and vigorous" military forces. [Footnote 26] While conceding that there is a substantial interest in attracting and retaining personnel for the military forces, appellee argues that this interest will not be impaired by allowing a State to apply its community property laws to retired military personnel in the same manner that it applies those laws to civilians. Yet this argument ignores two essential characteristics of military service: the military forces are national in operation; and their members, unlike civilian employees, cf. Hisquierdo, are not free to choose their place of residence. Appellant, for instance, served tours of duty in four States and the District of Columbia. The value of retired pay as an inducement for enlistment or reenlistment is obviously diminished to the extent that the service member recognizes that he or she may be involuntarily transferred to a State that will divide that pay upon divorce. In Free v. Bland,
369 U. S. 663 (1962), the Court held that state community property law could not override the survivorship provision of a federal savings bond, since it was "[o]ne of the inducements selected," id. at 369 U. S. 669, to make purchase of such bonds attractive; similarly, retired pay is one of the inducements selected to make military service attractive, and the application of state community property law thus "interfere[s] directly with a legitimate exercise of the power of the Federal Government." Ibid. .
We recognize that the plight of an ex-spouse of a retired service member is often a serious one. See Hearing on H.R. 2817, H.R. 3677, and H.R. 6270 before the Military Compensation Subcommittee of the House Committee on Armed Services, 96th Cong., 2d Sess. (1980). That plight may be mitigated to some extent by the ex-spouse's right to claim Social Security benefits, cf. Hisquierdo, 439 U.S. at 439 U. S. 590, and to garnish military retired pay for the purposes of support. Nonetheless, Congress may well decide, as it has in the Civil Service and Foreign Service contexts, that more protection
Relying upon Tyler, the Ninth Circuit recently rejected the argument that Congress' alteration of the method by which retired pay is calculated deprived retired military personnel of property without due process of law. Costello v. United States, 587 F.2d 424, 426 (1978), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 929 (1979). The court held that, since "retirement pay does not differ from active duty pay in its character as pay for continuing military service," 587 F.2d at 427, its method of calculation could be prospectively altered under the precedent of United States v. Larionoff, 431 U. S. 864, 431 U. S. 879 (1977). See also Abbott v. United States, 200 Ct.Cl. 384, cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1024 (1973); Lemly v. United States, 109 Ct.Cl. 760, 763, 75 F.Supp. 248, 249 (1948); Watson v. Watson, 424 F.Supp. 866 (EDNC 1976).
Nonetheless, the fact remains that the retired officer faces not only significant restrictions upon his activities, but also a real risk of recall. At the least, then, the possibility that Congress intended military retired pay to be in part current compensation for those risks and restrictions suggests that States must tread with caution in this area, lest they disrupt the federal scheme. See Hooper v. United States, 164 Ct.Cl. at 159, 326 F.2d at 987 ("the salary he received was not solely recompense for past services, but a means devised by Congress to assure his availability and preparedness in future contingencies"). Cf. Cong.Globe, 37th Cong., 1st Sess., 158 (1861) (remark of Sen. Grimes) (object of first nondisability retirement statute was "to retire gentlemen who have served the country faithfully and well for forty years, voluntarily if they see fit, (but subject, however, to be called into the service of the country at any moment that the President of the United States may ask for their services,) . . .").
Id. at 439 U. S. 581. The reason for the omission of this seemingly critical sentence from the Court's opinion today is, of course, quite clear: the Court cannot, even to its satisfaction, plausibly maintain that Congress has "positively required by direct enactment" that California's community property law be preempted by the
Both family law and property law have been recognized as matters of peculiarly local concern, and therefore governed by state and not federal law. In re Burrus, 136 U. S. 586, 136 U. S. 593-594 (1890); United States v. Yazell, 382 U. S. 341, 382 U. S. 349, 382 U. S. 353 (1966). Questions concerning the appropriate disposition of property upon the dissolution of marriage, therefore, such as the question in this case, are particularly within the control of the States, and the authority of the States should not be displaced except pursuant to the clearest direction from Congress.
199 U.S. at 199 U. S. 389. There is, of course, nothing remotely approaching this situation in the case at bar. Congress has not enacted a schedule governing rights of ex-spouses to military retired pay, and appellee's claim does not go against any such schedule. [Footnote 2/1]
It is important to recognize that the Court's analysis, while purporting to rely on Wissner, actually is contrary to the analysis in that case. As will be explored in greater detail below, the Court focuses on two provisions in concluding that military retired pay cannot be treated as community property: the provision permitting a serviceman to designate who shall receive any arrearages in pay after his death, and the provision permitting a retired serviceman to fund an annuity for someone other than the ex-spouse out of retired pay. The Court's theory is that, since the serviceman can dispose of part of the retired pay without participation of the ex-spouse -- either the arrearages or the premiums to fund the annuity -- the retired pay cannot be treated as community property. This, however, is precisely the analysis the Wissner court declined to adopt in concluding that the proceeds of an insurance policy, purchased with military pay, could not be treated as community property. The Wissner court simply concluded that the wife could not pursue her community property claim to the proceeds, even though purchased with community property funds. This is comparable to ruling in this case that appellee cannot obtain half of any annuity funded out of retired pay pursuant to the statute, or half of the arrearages, when the serviceman has designated someone else to receive them. The Wissner court specifically left open the question whether the whole from which the premiums were taken -- the military pay -- could be treated as community property. Id. at 338 U. S. 657, n. 2. That is, however, the analytic jump the Court takes today in ruling that retired pay cannot
The contrast with the provision in Hisquierdo is stark. Section 14 forbids assignment; § 701(a) permits it. Section 14 contains a "flat prohibition against attachment and anticipation," 439 U.S. at 439 U. S. 582; all that can be gleaned from § 701(a) is a negative implication prohibiting voluntary assignments prior to the time pay is due and payable. Such a limit is, of course, a far cry from the Hisquierdo provision requiring that the retired pay may not be subject to "legal process under any circumstances whatsoever" and that it shall not "be anticipated." It is no wonder § 701(a) is buried in a footnote in the Court's opinion. [Footnote 2/3]
In its analysis, the Court contrasts the statute involved in Hisquierdo, noting that there, spouses received an annuity which terminated upon divorce. Here there is no such provision. As the Court states its conclusion: "Thus, unlike the Railroad Retirement Act, the military retirement system does not embody even a limited community property concept.'" Ante at 453 U. S. 224. This analysis, however, is the exact opposite
The Court also relies on "several features of the statutory scheme" as evidence that Congress intended military retired pay to be the "personal entitlement" of the serviceman. The Court first focuses on 10 U.S.C. § 2771, which permits a serviceman to select the beneficiary of unpaid arrearages. As we have seen, supra, at 453 U. S. 240-241, the Court's reliance on Wissner in this context establishes, at most, only that unpaid arrearages cannot be treated as community property, not that retired pay in general cannot be. A provision permitting a serviceman to tell the Government where to mail his last paycheck after his death hardly supports the inference of a congressional intent to preempt state law governing disposition of military retired pay in general.
The Court resists the recognition of any rights to retired pay in the ex-spouse because of a policy judgment that it would be "anomalous" to place the ex-spouse in a better position than a widow receiving benefits under an annuity. Ante at 453 U. S. 227. The Court, however, is comparing apples and oranges in two respects. The ex-spouse's rights are to retired pay, and cease when the serviceman dies. The widow's rights are to an annuity which begins when the serviceman dies. The fact that Congress "deliberately has chosen to favor the widower or widow over the ex-spouse" so far as the annuity is concerned, ante at 453 U. S. 228, simply has no relevance to the rights of the ex-spouse to the retired pay itself. Second, the ex-spouse has contributed to the earning of the retired pay to the same degree as the serviceman, according to state law. The widow may have done nothing at all to "earn" her annuity, as would be the case, for example, if appellant remarried and funded an annuity for his widow out of retired pay. In view of this, I see nothing "anomalous" in providing the ex-spouse with rights in retired pay. In any event, such policy
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