Source: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Mansell_v._Mansell/Opinion_of_the_Court
Timestamp: 2014-08-21 20:32:09
Document Index: 29083810

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 3105', '§ 3101', '§ 1408', '§ 1408', '§ 1408', '§ 3101']

Mansell v. Mansell/Opinion of the Court - Wikisource, the free online library
Mansell v. Mansell/Opinion of the Court
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Mansell v. Mansell by Thurgood Marshall
648506Mansell v. Mansell — Opinion of the CourtThurgood Marshall
In order to prevent double dipping, a military retiree may receive disability benefits only to the extent that he waives a corresponding amount of his military retirement pay. § 3105. [1] Because disability benefits are exempt from federal, state, and local taxation, § 3101(a), military retirees who waive their retirement pay in favor of disability benefits increase their after-tax income. Not surprisingly, waivers of retirement pay are common.
In direct response to McCarty, Congress enacted the Former Spouses' Protection Act, which authorizes state courts to treat "disposable retired or retainer pay" as community property. 10 U.S.C. § 1408(c)(1). [2] " 'Disposable retired or retainer pay' " is defined as "the total monthly retired or retainer pay to hich a military member is entitled," minus certain deductions. § 1408(a)(4) (1982 ed. and Supp. V). Among the amounts required to be deducted from total pay are any amounts waived in order to receive disability benefits. § 1408(a)(4)(B). [3]
Major Mansell appealed to the California Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District, arguing that both the Former Spouses' Protection Act and the anti-attachment clause that protects a veteran's receipt of disability benefits, 38 U.S.C. § 3101(a) (1982 ed. and Supp. IV), [4] precluded the Superior Court from treating military retirement pay that had been waived to receive disability benefits as community property. Relying on the decision of the Supreme Court of California in Casas v. Thompson, supra, the Court of Appeal rejected that portion of Major Mansell's argument b