We’ve filed another pro bono brief in the Minnesota Court of Appeals today advocating for the reversal of bad Minnesota precedent previously allowing state trial courts to utilize veterans’ non-disposable, non-assignable military retirement and disability pay to supplement former spouses for their losses when the Veterans Administration reduces their automatic entitlement because the veteran receives disability pay instead of regular retirement.
Long story short, we’ve put a brief in supporting Navy Seal Chief Petty Officer Mark Mattson who had been fleeced for years by his former spouse under an order that was unauthorized by federal law – requiring him to pay over his disability pay to her in a property settlement agreement!
If it were not for the Supreme Court’s unanimous (8-0) decision in Howell v. Howell, in which we also submitted an amicus brief in and which the Court followed nearly to the letter, we would not be able to go knocking on the doors of each of those states that has defied federal law for nearly 30 years.
Now, we’ve got that opportunity and took the first step of many today to get in and set the record straight in these state courts.
Read the brief here:Â OFFE Amicus Brief – 20170623 (Amicus)