This is a Military Pension Division: Scouting the Terrain Silent Partner Section of Family Law. Silent Partner is a lawyer-to-lawyer resource for military legal assistance attorneys and civilian lawyers. It is an attempt to explain broad generalities about the law of domestic relations. It is, of course, very general in nature since no handout can answer every specific question. Military Pension Division: Scouting the Terrain is a general introduction to the topic. It discusses the passage of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (USFSPA), what the Act does (and doesn’t do), and how the question of “federal jurisdiction” is critical in knowing whether a pension can be divided by a court or not. It also covers deferred division of pensions and present-value offsets, direct payment from Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), early-out options and severance pay, dividing accrued leave, and military medical benefits.
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