Graves v. Graves
Husband property ordered to pay alimony from disability benefits.
Husband property ordered to pay alimony from disability benefits.
Compensation for bodily impairment is not divisible property.
Military retirement benefits based on physical disability are not divisible assets in divorce.
(1) No federal preemption in treating military disability benefits as marital property subject to division in divorce actions. (2) Division of benefits affirmed where H elected for tax reasons to receive part of his retirement benefits as disability payments.
Veteran’s disability payments are income for purposes of determining maintenance. (See detailed concurring opinion).
To the extent disability payments replace a disabled spouse’s post-divorce wages, they are income and are individual property, not subject to division at divorce. Alternatively, to the extent disability benefits replace deferred compensation, it is subject to property division at divorce.
Wife was entitled to husband’s disability benefits where husband opted to received disability benefits in lieu of pension benefits.