Marsha K. Huggins - Page 7




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          for tax years ending after the date of enactment.  See OBRA sec.            
          7841(a)(3), 103 Stat. 2428.  The court order in this case was               
          issued in 1985; it precedes the effective date of section                   
          414(p)(11) and cannot qualify as a QDRO.                                    
               The decree provided that petitioner is to receive a "sum of            
          money equaling one-half" of her former spouse's Coast Guard                 
          retirement pension, after deduction of Federal and State taxes,             
          and that such amount is not to be taxable income to her or                  
          deductible by her former spouse.  The language of the court's               
          direction that the amount not be taxable to petitioner or                   
          deductible by her former spouse disqualifies the payments from              
          being considered as alimony.  See sec. 71(b)(1)(B).  The payments           
          are to continue until the mortgage is paid or the house is sold.            
          The payments constitute a division of marital property.  Estate             
          of Goldman v. Commissioner, 112 T.C. 317, 323-324 (1999), affd.             
          without published opinion sub nom. Schutter v. Commissioner, 242            
          F.3d 390 (10th Cir. 2000).                                                  
               The language of the decree also meets the requirement of 10            
          U.S.C. sec. 1408(a)(2)(C) (1994) for direct payment to petitioner           
          out of the retired pay of petitioner's former spouse:                       
               in the case of a division of property, [the court                      
               order] specifically [provides] for the payment of an                   
               amount, expressed in dollars or as a percentage of                     
               disposable retired pay, from the disposable retired pay                
               of a member to the spouse or former spouse of that                     
               member.  [Emphasis supplied].                                          







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