Frank Kurland

Good Day Committee Members I stand before you today as a constituent of the Granite State. My purpose is to request your consideration to listen and share to an ongoing mission to right a wrong. I am a retired military veteran of 21 years and one of over 300,000 retirees affected by a Federal law, 10 U.S. Code § 1408 – Payment of retired or retainer pay in compliance with court orders. The egregious result is that for over 40 years the law is literally picking the pockets of veterans and will do for life. I have been paying my former spouse longer than we were actually married. She had since remarried and divorced another military veteran retiree after 6 years and was denied by the court any portion of the retirees retired pay due to a pre-nup. and is currently in another long term relationship. With all briefness, the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act (USFSPA) was intended to ‘protect’ a former spouse by allowing a state to award a portion, up to 50%, of a retiree’s Military Retainer Pay for life when a military couple divorced. The law does not mandate a division of MRP, it only allows a state to apply a division of MRP. The legislation was able to do this by defying the 5th Amendment and mis-lableing Retainer Pay as property that does not even remotely fit the definition of property. It also defies the 10th Amendment in that divorce is not addressed in the Constitution and those powers not delegated to the Federal government are reserved for the state or the people. Finally, the Federal law violates the 14th Amendment. It discriminates against the divorced retired veterans in that they are singled out because the USFSPA is applied only to the seven Uniformed Services of the United States. As a caveat,other Federal Retirement, Social Security plans terminate payments when a former spouse remarries . In support of my request, I will present you with a presentation of facts and arguments that cannot be refuted as good reason to seek an amendment to the New Hampshire Domestic Relations code to bring justice to all retired military veterans by nullifying the USFSPA. The horrifying result is the military service member is now subject to a far greater division upon divorce than their civilian counterpart. New Hampshire alimony ends on co-habitation, remarriage, monthly maintenance is capped and there is a time limit. Current New Hampshire alimony law will allow for all and any maintenance support as stated in the Domestic Relations Code. NH Rev Stat § 458:19-aa (2021) Our Veterans’ Solution: Amend the New Hampshire Family Laws to disallow any division of Military Retirement Pay, a non-contributory retirement plan or any disability pay. Reset the true course with the correct definition of Retainer/Retired Pay as stated NH Baker vs Baker. Negating the USFSPA as property would result in military retirees being treated like everybody else in a divorce and allow judges to be able to reach an equitable solution unique yet relevant for each case instead of a cookie cutter,one size fits all approach. State alimony and child support laws provide all the necessary legal authority to consider the military retirement/retention pay as income and to be used to ensure a former spouse and minor children have the sufficient means to live. https://www.valorindivorce.com/ Respectfully Frank J Kurland Jr USN retired