I just settled a strange little divorce in front Judge Kent, in Suffolk County. On it’s face, it was nothing too strange. A forty year marriage, where the only property was a pension and a house. As I explained in other posts, under New York divorce law, a pension is martial property and is divided according the number of years of marriage by number of years in the pension.
The husband in this case had retired as an AGR New York Guardsman. In 1998 when he retired from the National Guard, he took off for Puerto Rico. Eight years later, the wife decided to get a divorce. Under New York divorce law, the military retired pay is marital property, but under Puerto Rican law, it is not. The question facing Judge Kent was: which law to apply.
Under the Former Spouses Protection Act Congress specifically stated that military retired pay is subject to laws of the state where the divorce is ordered. There is one kicker, the military member must either be a resident of the state or consent to the state’s jurisdiction. If he is a resident of Georgia, and the spouse tries to divorce him in Nevada, the court cannot divide his military pay. It can only be divided in Georgia, or if he consents to the Nevada court.
My case was different. The husband was a Guardsman for 20 years. He never left the state of New York and his boss was the TAG. Upon retirement he moved to Puerto Rico. So, does the Former Spouses Protection Act govern? Is it meant to cover a Guardsman who spent his entire military career in New York working for the TAG, and then moves out of state upon retirement? The answer is: I don’t know. At this time, there is no decision by any judge in the United States that I have been able find on this issue. My argument was that the act should not apply. He worked for 20 years for the Governor, not the President. I argued that the Former Spouses Protection Act was not designed to cover a career Guardsman being sued for divorce in the state where served and retired from. Naturally, my opponent argued the other side. Judge Kent was caught in the middle. Fortunately, the judge,who is a gentleman, and famous for cutting to the heart of an issue, managed to get the parties to settle. So, this question is still unanswered.
The lesson here is to be careful. If you are the spouse of guardsman who is retiring and he intends to leave the state, start the divorce now before he establishes residence in another state. If you are the guardsman, after you leave the state, establish residence and then commence the divorce. Here, because the parties let the matter sit for several years, multiple problems occurred. If we had not settled, the husband was facing 10 years of arrears payments to the wife, if we won. If we lost, the wife was potentially facing not getting any money from the pension.
