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property, not necessarily the recipient of the income. Eatinger
v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1990-310. Accordingly, military
pension payments are includable in the gross income of the party
or parties who have an ownership interest in the pension itself:
A taxpayer who has a community property interest in a spouse’s
military pension must, after divorce, include in her gross income
the portion of the benefits paid which represents her interest in
the pension, whether or not she directly receives such benefits,
Id.; Weir v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2001-184, and a taxpayer
who is awarded an ownership interest in a military pension as a
division of marital property or pursuant to a divorce settlement
must include her proportionate share of the benefits in her gross
income. Witcher v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2002-292; Pfister v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2002-198.
In the case at hand, there is nothing on the face of the
divorce decree to indicate that petitioner was awarded an
ownership interest in the pension. To the contrary, the court
granted petitioner a monetary award in the amount of $1,017 per
month, payable until the death of either petitioner or Mr.
Newell. The court then ordered that this monetary award be
satisfied through monthly payments to be paid directly by the
government to petitioner, on behalf of Mr. Newell.
Virginia law supports our conclusion that petitioner did not
have an ownership interest in the pension. While Federal law
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