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B-226888 1 (1988-05-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadncb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ~ ~ The Comptroller General of the United States Washington, D.C. 20548 , Decision Sarah E. Tweedy - Survivor Benefit Plan - Matterof- Annuity Reductions Based on Receipt of Veterans Administration Benefits File: B-226888 Date: May 18, 1988 DIGEST 1. In Croteau v. United States, 823 F.2d 539 (1987), the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the widow of two service members was entitled to a full, unreduced Survivor Benefit Plan annuity from the Army based on her second marriage, even though she was also drawing Dependency and Indemnity Compensation from the Veterans Administration on the basis of her first marriage. We will follow the court's judgment and overrule our prior contrary decision in Technical Sergeant John T. Baker, USAF (Retired) (Deceased), B-190617, Feb. 16, 1978. Individuals similarly situated to the plaintiff in the Croteau litiga- tion are entitled to have their annuities adjusted upward retroactively, subject to the 6-year statute of limitations set out under 31 U.S.C. S 3702(b). 2. A provision of the laws governing the Survivor Benefit Plan, 10 U.S.C. S 1450(b), in certain circumstances requires a widow or widower who is eligible for more than one annuity, on the basis of more than one marriage, to elect which annuity to receive. While the provision uses the term elect, its evident purpose is to give the individuals covered the highest annuity for which they are eligible. Hence, what is involved is not so much a matter of making an election as it is of simply determining which annuity provides the greatest benefit. There is consequently no basis for objection to the retroactive changing of such so- called elections, if that change will produce the greatest benefit for an annuitant in the retroactive recomputation of annuities necessitated by a new interpretation of the law under a court judgment. DECISION The Department of the Army has asked for our decision concerning the Survivor Benefit Plan entitlements of Mrs. Sarah E. Tweedy, who is the widow of two different G4a\ 5 5 S S35

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