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Retired Veterans and Active Duty Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines sue Federal Government over divorce court division of retirement pay Over fifty divorced retired veterans and Active Duty Military Personnel have gone to court to overturn a federal law that enables their ex-spouses to share in their retainer/retirement pay. Tampa, FL (PRWEB) May 3, 2004--Over fifty divorced veterans and Active DUTY military personnel have gone to court to overturn a federal law that enables their ex-spouses to share in their retainer/retirement pay.
The lawsuit is spearheaded by the ULSG, LLC, which was founded last summer to challenge the constitutionality of this law in court, after legislative efforts to amend the Uniform Services Former Spouses' Protection Act (USFSPA) failed.
For over twenty years, state divorce courts repeatedly have added veterans' retainer/retirement pay to the pot of assets to be divided among divorced persons. The ULSG wants to return to 1981, when the United States Supreme Court ruled in McCarty v. McCarty that divorce courts cannot touch veterans' retainer/retirement pay. The USFSPA undoes that Supreme Court ruling.
The ULSG acknowledges that some lawmakers intended the law to help former female spouses of military personnel, but points out that a snowballing number of women join the military every year, serving at all levels of the military, many which now are also affected and are having their retainer/retirement pay unrightfully taken from them also.
The lawsuit's members represent a cross-section of the over two thousand ULSG members from an estimated population of over 100,000 who are affected by this law. They include active duty, and men and women veterans who joined the military long before any law allowed their ex-spouses to touch their retainer/retirement pay.
The ULSG's lead attorney Jonathan L. Katz said: "No matter how one slices it, this is an unjust and unconstitutional law that has wreaked unfair financial harm on retired veterans."
Members of the ULSG, LLC have stated that the parties to this lawsuit span the map from active-duty Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines to veterans who have suffered from this law for over two decades. They ask for nothing more than to overturn this law."
The lawsuit is entitled Adkins, ULSG, et al. v. Rumsfeld, United States District Court (E.D. Va.). The plaintiffs are represented by lead counsel Jonathan L. Katz of the law firm of Marks & Katz, LLC, Silver Spring, Maryland, and attorney David J. Bederman of Atlanta.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
MEDIA INQUIRIES: Jonathan L. Katz, Attorney at Law Lead Counsel for ULSG, LLC Marks & Katz, LLC 1400 Spring Street, Suite 410 Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone: (301) 495-4300 Fax: (301) 495-8815 E-mail: jon@markskatz.com
NON-MEDIA INQUIRIES ULSG, LLC PO Box 270337 Tampa, FL 33688-0337 email: Members@ULSG.ORG
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