Gov't Demands Military Widow Repay Benefits

Madeline

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Apr 20, 2010
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Cleveland. Feel mah pain.
Well, this is just wrong.

The government paid Freda Green $41,000 in 2003 when her 81-year- old husband died of an illness linked to his 34 years in the Air Force.

Green was nervous about cashing the check. Was it a mistake?

Military officials reassured her. The money was a benefit Uncle Sam paid the surviving spouses of veterans. It was hers forever.

Forever ended Nov. 13 when the Brooksville woman got another letter. This one didn't come with a check. The government wanted the $41,000 back - with interest. Why?

Green remarried.

At the heart of it all is a seemingly absurd detail involving remarriage.

Green, 74, is confused.

"I took the money and paid my bills," she said. "I paid $6,000 in taxes on it. Now I've got to give it back? I don't understand it at all."

She isn't alone. Veteran advocates say they are hearing complaints from baffled spouses around the nation.

"This is no way for the government to treat a military widow," said Lawrence Gorin, a lawyer in Oregon who advises military spouses.

For lawyers like Gorin, explaining the law is akin to teaching a course in quantum theory.

It gets complicated.

Veteran's widow told to repay $41,000 in benefits | The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA Newspaper | Find Articles at BNET
 
Wanna know why Military retirees can not get Military retired pay and Federal Retired pay even if they earned both?

General Sherman.

BY the 1880's and 1890's The South had recovered and had a firm grasp with their fellow northern Democrats on the Government. Sherman was HATED for his march to the Sea in Georgia. So to punish him, as he was both a retired Military officer and a retired civil servant, Congress banned Military retirees from receiving both retirement payments.

I suspect the law in question is old as shit and no one ever cared to change it. Further did you know that in order for a military retiree to give their spouse a portion of their retirement when they die they must pay a large portion while alive of their retirement?

Lots of ignorant laws in regard military retirement pay.
 
Wanna know why Military retirees can not get Military retired pay and Federal Retired pay even if they earned both?

General Sherman.

BY the 1880's and 1890's The South had recovered and had a firm grasp with their fellow northern Democrats on the Government. Sherman was HATED for his march to the Sea in Georgia. So to punish him, as he was both a retired Military officer and a retired civil servant, Congress banned Military retirees from receiving both retirement payments.

I suspect the law in question is old as shit and no one ever cared to change it. Further did you know that in order for a military retiree to give their spouse a portion of their retirement when they die they must pay a large portion while alive of their retirement?

Lots of ignorant laws in regard military retirement pay.

Now that's a fascinating factoid, RGS.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Wanna know why Military retirees can not get Military retired pay and Federal Retired pay even if they earned both?

General Sherman.

BY the 1880's and 1890's The South had recovered and had a firm grasp with their fellow northern Democrats on the Government. Sherman was HATED for his march to the Sea in Georgia. So to punish him, as he was both a retired Military officer and a retired civil servant, Congress banned Military retirees from receiving both retirement payments.

I suspect the law in question is old as shit and no one ever cared to change it. Further did you know that in order for a military retiree to give their spouse a portion of their retirement when they die they must pay a large portion while alive of their retirement?

Lots of ignorant laws in regard military retirement pay.


I don't think that's quite true anymore Gunny. Military retirees can work for the government and earn a separate retirement. I've a friend who retired as a MCPO a couple of years after I retired and he works as a GS-15 now. I believe some of the pay provisions you speak of were corrected by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2000.

Military Retirement Regulations - Military Benefits - Military.com
Mixing Civilian and Military Retirement (6/30/06) -- GovExec.com


>>>>
 
Wanna know why Military retirees can not get Military retired pay and Federal Retired pay even if they earned both?

General Sherman.

BY the 1880's and 1890's The South had recovered and had a firm grasp with their fellow northern Democrats on the Government. Sherman was HATED for his march to the Sea in Georgia. So to punish him, as he was both a retired Military officer and a retired civil servant, Congress banned Military retirees from receiving both retirement payments.

I suspect the law in question is old as shit and no one ever cared to change it. Further did you know that in order for a military retiree to give their spouse a portion of their retirement when they die they must pay a large portion while alive of their retirement?

Lots of ignorant laws in regard military retirement pay.


I don't think that's quite true anymore Gunny. Military retirees can work for the government and earn a separate retirement. I've a friend who retired as a MCPO a couple of years after I retired and he works as a GS-15 now. I believe some of the pay provisions you speak of were corrected by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2000.

Military Retirement Regulations - Military Benefits - Military.com
Mixing Civilian and Military Retirement (6/30/06) -- GovExec.com


>>>>

My grandfather retired from the Air Force with a pension, and worked for the local county long enough to receive that pension as well. Neither one affected the other. Granted the laws could have changed since then, but they haven't been that was since the civil war to today.
 
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Wanna know why Military retirees can not get Military retired pay and Federal Retired pay even if they earned both?

General Sherman.

BY the 1880's and 1890's The South had recovered and had a firm grasp with their fellow northern Democrats on the Government. Sherman was HATED for his march to the Sea in Georgia. So to punish him, as he was both a retired Military officer and a retired civil servant, Congress banned Military retirees from receiving both retirement payments.

I suspect the law in question is old as shit and no one ever cared to change it. Further did you know that in order for a military retiree to give their spouse a portion of their retirement when they die they must pay a large portion while alive of their retirement?

Lots of ignorant laws in regard military retirement pay.


I don't think that's quite true anymore Gunny. Military retirees can work for the government and earn a separate retirement. I've a friend who retired as a MCPO a couple of years after I retired and he works as a GS-15 now. I believe some of the pay provisions you speak of were corrected by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2000.

Military Retirement Regulations - Military Benefits - Military.com
Mixing Civilian and Military Retirement (6/30/06) -- GovExec.com


>>>>

My grandfather retired from the Air Force with a pension, and worked for the local county long enough to receive that pension as well. Neither one affected the other. Granted the laws could have changed since then, but they haven't been that was since the civil war to today.


What Gunny was addressing was restrictions on Military Retirement and federal civil service as a second career. I don't believe there used to be any problems with Military Retirement with a second career in either State or Local employement.


>>>>
 

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