Kevin Grady

I am a 25-year Air Force veteran. In the interest of transparency, I'm currently giving a portion of my military retirement pay to a former spouse. Sometimes it's important to consider why the Former Spouses Protection Act exists in the first place. Its purpose was to protect that spouse that followed a servicemember through a 20+ military career, moving every three years, who gets divorced later in life without the benefit of being able to advance in a job, or have access to a retirement of his/her own because of the demands of service life. Since its inception, the FSPA has been modified several times in an effort to make it as equitable as possible. At no time in the history of this Act has it been mandatory for a judge to award military retirement pay in divorce proceedings. A judge has always had the latitude to consider it or not--but HB 1263 takes away that latitude completely. Also, while I'm not an attorney, a divorce decree is a court order which represents a binding contract between the former married couple. This bill would have people believe that at a certain point, they can just stop paying. I'm positive that will have to be adjudicated by a judge, particularly if the divorce didn't happen in NH. This legislation isn't pro-veteran, it's intensely anti-military family and let's be honest, anti-woman, and will be perceived that way by everyone. It seeks to punish future former military spouses for the alleged sins of previous former military spouses. It flies in the face of efforts to attract veterans to the state upon retirement that are currently underway by DMAVS and the Governor. NO STATE in the country has approved this kind of legislation and NH shouldn't be the first. Finally, consider that for our civilian population that lives here all their lives and provides a spouse the stability to get a job, advance and have access to a pension, wouldn't a judge have access to state teacher, fire department, or police department pensions when making an alimony determination? Why single out and penalize military spouses then?