On Oct. 10, the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., dismissed a lawsuit
by the USFSPA Litigation Support Group (ULSG) to overturn a federal law that
enables ex-spouses to share in retainer or retirement pay of retired service
members. Essentially the court ruled that, since divorce proceedings fall
under state jurisdiction, lawsuits such as that by the ULSG should be
handled, at least initially, by state courts. The ULSG wants to return to
the policy that applied before 1981, the year that the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in McCarty v. McCarty that divorce courts could not touch veterans’
retainer or retirement pay. The Uniform Services Former Spouses’ Protection
Act undid that Supreme Court ruling. The ULSG is expected to appeal this
latest ruling.