About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

B-221190 1 (1986-02-11)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadmej0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 0 THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL OECISION . OF THE UNITED STATES N T WA SIH INGTON. 0.C. 20Z48 FILE: B-221190 MATTER 0 DIGEST: )F: DATE: February 11, 1986 Lieutenant Colonel William A. Smith, Jr., (Retired) USA 1. It is not the function of the Comptroller General to decide the constitutionality of statutes. Consequently, arguments by a retired military member that the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act unconstitutionally deprived him of his due process and equal protection rights will not be considered. 2. Absent facial invalidity of the court order, the Government is not liable with respect to any payments made in conformity with a state court order under authority of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act. Therefore, the Department of the Army is obligated to apportion the military retired pay of a retired officer in accordance with a Washington state court divorce decree, not- withstanding the officer's contention that the court order did not conform to Washington statutes. Lieutenant Colonel William Smith, Jr., USA (Retired), claims restoration of payment in full and reimbursement of military retired pay withheld by the Department of the Army under a Washington state court order apportioning the retired pay between him and his former spouse as community property. We deny his claim. Backqround In 1981 the United States Supreme Court held that in the absence of specific authority granted by Federal statute, state courts could not properly treat military retired pay as marital community property in divorce proceedings. McCarty v. McCarty, 453 U.S. 210. )~~c~\ 19c) o,/cj

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most