Q: When I retire, am I required to notify my ex-wife?
My second wife was awarded 15.5% of my military retirement. I asked my lawyer to offer all the cash I had the time (roughly $27,000) to have it removed. Over the phone, my lawyer told me “she will have to find you, serve you, and be able to collect”. I took that as I did not need to notify her of my retirement and that I won’t ever actually have to pay her. We were only married for 5 years, so DFAS won’t pay her directly.
I sincerely never want to have any other interactions with my ex ever again.
What are my options?
A:
Unless your divorce decree provides otherwise—and they typically don’t—you have no obligation to notify your ex-wife of your retirement.
And it is true that she will have to find you and serve you.
With respect to collecting, I’d be most concerned about a constructive trust being imposed on anything you bought with your retirement funds.
1 user found this answer helpful
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