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B-227505 1 (1987-09-21)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadmvo0001 and id is 1 raw text is: RThe Comptroller General of the United States , Washington, D.C. 20548 Decision Matterof. Patsy Riccardi, USN, Retired (Deceased) File: B-227505 Date: September 21, 1987 DIGEST Claim for Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity by the alleged fourth wife of a deceased former service member cannot be allowed. Absent a determination by a court of competent jurisdiction of the validity of the service member's foreign divorce from his third wife, the marital status of the service member who obtained the divorce in Mexico and subsequently married the claimant here is too uncertain to determine the proper recipient of the member's SBP annuity. In any event, even if the foreign divorce were validated so as to make the claimant the service member's lawful wife at the time of his death, she could not qualify for the SBP annuity. Member's action in listing his third wife as spouse on the SBP form after his marriage to fourth wife, if the divorce is valid, nullifies his election to participate in the SBP and no one gets the annuity. DECISION The claimant in this case, Rosemary Riccardi, seeks to establish her entitlement to a Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity under 10 U.S.C. SS 1447 et seq., as the surviving spouse of a deceased former service member, Patsy Riccardi. Rosemary Riccardi asserts that the Mexican divorce obtained by Patsy Riccardi from his third wife, Dorothy, should be recognized in order to validate his subsequent marriage to her as his fourth wife for purposes of entitlement to his SBP annuity. For the reasons set forth below we conclude that, in the absence of a determination by a court of competent jurisdiction as to whether Patsy Riccardi's divorce from Dorothy Riccardi was valid, the marital status of Rosemary Riccardi is too uncertain to authorize the payment of a SBP annuity to her as his surviving spouse. Furthermore, even if Rosemary's marriage is found valid, she cannot receive

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