William E. Johnson - Page 8

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          benefit, not his former spouse’s.  Accordingly, we hold that                
          petitioner’s payments to his Thrift Savings Plan are not                    
          deductible alimony.                                                         
               Similarly, petitioner contends that his contributions to his           
          retirement plan are deductible alimony payments.  Petitioner                
          contends that, because he must contribute to his retirement plan,           
          and because creditable benefits continue to accrue after the                
          marriage, he essentially is being forced to make alimony                    
          payments.  Petitioner further contends that the formula set forth           
          in the divorce decree is incorrect because it does not fix the              
          number of years of creditable benefits and that wages are not               
          property.  Respondent argues that the interest in the retirement            
          plan allotted to petitioner’s former spouse is part of the                  
          property settlement.  We agree with respondent.                             
               Petitioner fails to understand the function of the formula             
          set forth in the divorce decree.  The divorce decree provides as            
          follows:                                                                    
               The plaintiff [sic] share of retirement shall be                       
               calculated using a fraction where the numerator shall                  
               be 22.5, representing the number of years of the                       
               marriage, and the denominator shall be the total number                
               of years during which creditable retirement benefits                   
               were acquired by the defendant, times fifty percent.                   
          The total number of years of creditable benefits (years of                  
          service) does not have to be fixed; that is the purpose of                  
          numerator, 22.5 years, the duration of the marriage.  The                   
          numerator in the equation limits the percentage of the funds to             





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