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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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