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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!
November 19, 2007
State Courts Declare Open
Season on Veterans’ Disability Compensation
Please allow me to take you
on a brief journey. Try to imagine yourself as one of the many wounded
military personnel (Man, or Woman) currently recovering from their
combat injuries at Walter Reed or Brook Army Medical Center. Let’s
pretend that you are a survivor of an RPG attack that has left you
disfigured and disabled. Let’s say you have spent months in the hospital
recuperating and in physical therapy. You have been awarded one of this
nation’s highest awards for your service and sacrifice, the Purple Heart
Medal. Your doctors tell you that you will be in some pain and on
medications for the rest of your life, and that your disfiguring scars
will fade a little with time. Your body has become immune to your pain
medications, and you are forced to just ‘deal with it’. Sleep is the
only relief you have. When you can finally fall asleep, your body jerks
violently waking you back up. Every time you close your eyes it is as if
you were reliving/replaying the entire RPG explosion in your dreams over
and over again. Your subconscious mind tries to convince yourself that
‘this time’ you will somehow jump out of the way of the rocket and not
be hurt. But, when you are startled awake, the pain and discomfort
reveals the ugly reality. On one hand you are extremely grateful to be
alive, and on the other hand, you question your survival. You don’t yet
understand that your wounds are both physical and emotional and that the
physical and mental scars from your near-death experience are very deep
and will follow you throughout your life until the day you die.
Now, allow me to elaborate
even further. Let’s say your injuries qualify you for service-connected
disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and you
receive a tax-exempt monthly disability check from the VA. And let’s
say, in spite of your scars and disabilities, you are fortunate enough
to find a mate and marry. Now, imagine your marriage decaying over
several years to the point of divorce because your spouse no longer
wishes to live with your jumping in your sleep. You are totally disabled
and unable to work, and your only source of livelihood is your VA
disability check. You provide the divorce court with a sworn financial
statement that substantiates that your VA check is your only cash source
and you have no other assets. The next thing you know, a civil court
judge has awarded half of your VA disability compensation to your
able-body non-military ex-spouse in the form of alimony, or spousal
support. Your attorney advises you that there is nothing you can do
about it, and withdraws from your case. You can’t afford to retain
another lawyer, so you are faced with four basic decisions;
-
Just shut up and pay the
court order, or go to jail and then pay the order anyway.
-
Find a pro-bono attorney
to file an Appeal and fight for your earned veteran’s disability
compensation.
-
Leave the state and
never return.
-
Blow your brains out.
Sound far fetched? Not at
all, in fact similar scenarios unfold in divorce courts nationwide
everyday. Self-serving attorneys and judges have found ways to
circumvent federal laws that prohibit third party awards of veteran’s
benefits. The VA and our politicians turn a blind eye towards these
civil courts as they wrongly interpret veteran’s disability compensation
as a divisible marital asset.
Operation Firing For Effect
(OFFE) is currently monitoring over two dozen cases in several states
where disabled veterans are forced to pay alimony from their VA
disability compensation or go to jail for contempt. In several of these
cases totally disabled veterans have been jailed for not voluntarily
giving up their VA disability compensation to a third party.
OFFE points to United States
Code, Title 38, section 5301(a), which reads in part;
‘Payments
of benefits due or to become due under
any law
administered
by the Secretary
shall
not be assignable
except to the extent specifically
authorized
by law,
and
such payments
made
to, or on account
of, a
beneficiary
shall
be exempt from taxation,
shall
be exempt from the claim
of creditors, and
shall
not be liable
to attachment,
levy, or seizure by or under
any legal
or equitable
process whatever,
either before or after
receipt by the beneficiary’.
It is very clear what
Congress intended when they wrote this legislation, and their wording
leaves no gray area. Congress intended to totally protect veteran’s
disability compensation from the greedy hands of anyone using these
funds as a divisible consideration in any/all court proceedings in the
land. Congress wanted to insure that a person that was injured in the
line of duty was the sole recipient of their earned disability
compensation, and that these tax-exempt funds not be diverted to an
ineligible able-body non-military person.
Last Friday, November 17,
2007, Vietnam combat disabled veteran Calvin Murphy was ordered by
Michigan Circuit Court Judge, James Batzer to pay his ex-spouse $800 a
month until she remarries from his disability compensation, and Murphy
was also ordered to pay his ex-wife’s attorney fees amounting to an
additional $3000. According to sworn testimony from the former Mrs.
Murphy, she could no longer live with Mr. Murphy and his combat-induced
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She simply did not want to live with him
any more. There were no claims of spousal abuse or infidelity made by
Mrs. Murphy, and the Murphy’s have no minor children. At one point,
attorney Connie Krusniak argued that Mrs. Murphy has suffered from Mr.
Murphy’s PTSD bouts just as much as her husband has, and therefore she
was entitle to a portion of Mr. Murphy’s VA disability compensation. Mr.
Calvin Murphy was accused in open court of ‘romanticizing’ his combat
military service in an attempt to avoid paying alimony. At another point
in the testimony, Mr. Murphy’s attorney, Wendy Divozzo provided the
court with certified receipts showing that Mrs. Murphy had a gambling
habit and she had lost over $24,000 at one local casino since the
Murphy’s had been separated. Judge Batzer refused to accept the argument
that Mr. Murphy’s VA disability compensation was protected by federal
statute and he ordered Mr. Murphy to pay or go to jail. Calvin Murphy is
appealing the decision. However, to avoid being jailed in the meantime,
Murphy has to pay the court order until his Appeal is heard. So, even if
he wins his Appeal in the future, he loses a great deal of his earned
veteran’s disability benefits now.
It doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to see what is happening here. Divorce lawyers and civil court
judges have found a ‘cash cow’ in veteran’s disability benefits and they
are milking it dry. Many attorneys incorrectly think VA disability
compensation funds are exactly the same as any other military retirement
pay issue, and therefore divisible in a divorce. Many attorneys see
veteran’s disability compensation as a means for their client to pay
their legal fees. Therefore, attorneys have a vested interest in
targeting a veteran’s disability compensation. Everyone wins in the
divorce, except the disabled veteran.
Operation Firing For Effect
and our team of veteran’s advocates nationwide have been watching this
issue develop closely for some time now. We have contacted several
federal agencies including the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA
claims that they are not a law enforcement agency and cannot enforce USC
Title 38 in divorce courts. When we contacted several members of
Congress, we were told that ‘they’ do not get involved in civil matters,
nor do they interfere with the legal process in state family courts.
When we contacted the Attorney General and Department of Justice, we
were told judges cannot be held legally liable for their decisions;
therefore, there is no violation of law. They suggested that ‘if’ a law
had been broken, we should hire an attorney and prove it in the courts.
OFFE has also contacted several national media outlets just to be told
they only do stories on high profile celebrity divorces. Meanwhile, our
combat wounded troops currently being nursed back to health at Walter
Reed and Brook Army can take little comfort in the fact that their
earned veteran’s disability compensation is not as protected as Title 38
suggest.
Calvin Murphy has pledged as
long as his attorney sticks by him, he will take his Appeal all the way
to the highest court in Washington DC if necessary.
Operation Firing For Effect
can provide supporting documentation on more than two dozen cases where
a service-connected disabled veteran’s VA disability compensation has
been calculated into his divorce settlement as a divisible asset. This
includes cases involving amputees and wheelchair bound disabled
veterans. Please direct all media inquires to;
jerebeery@aol.com
[NOTE: According
Michigan Circuit Court Judge, James Batzer’s ruling in the Murphy
divorce case, Mr. Murphy is to pay his ex-spouse $800 a month until she
remarries. In other words, the former Mrs. Murphy can take another mate
and as long as she doesn’t get ‘legally married’, she and her new mate
will collect $800 a month, or until Mr. Murphy dies. That makes Judge
Batzer’s ruling a ‘life time’ award.]
[Postscript: Recent
statistics released by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the
Department of Defense, and several national veteran’s service
organizations reveal that divorce, homelessness, and suicides among
former U.S. military personnel are considerably higher than
national averages within the civilian population.]
Jere Beery
National Public Relations Director
Operation Firing For Effect
www.offe2008.org
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