Wife Gets Half of Husband’s Military Pension Despite Ambiguous Order
Tennessee case summary on military retirement benefits in divorce.
William August Lockler, III, v. Pamela Michelle Barr Lockler
The husband and wife in this Tennessee case were married in 2002 and divorced in 2007. The final 2007 judgment stated that if the wife was entitled under federal law to receive any portion of the husband’s military retirement benefit, then she would be awarded half of those benefits earned during the marriage.
The husband retired from the military in 2014, and the wife filed a petition to reopen the divorce judgment, asking for half of the retirement that had accrued during the marriage.
The trial court granted the wife’s request. The husband appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals. On appeal, he argued that the original order awarded a portion of the pension only if she was eligible under federal law.
The trial court had agreed that this portion of the original order was confusing, but that it must have meant that the husband would receive half of the benefits at the time the wife became eligible.
The husband argued an alternative interpretation. He reasoned that the wife did not have any eligibility under federal law to the pension, but there might be a future change in federal law. If so, he reasoned, this provision would become effective, and the order then specified the amount she would receive.
But the Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court. It reviewed the original record, and noted that the wife was asking for half of the benefits, and that the husband argued that she should not receive half. Therefore, it was clear that the court was granting the wife’s request, and not the husband’s.
The Court of Appeals also pointed out that the court’s order, if it meant what the husband suggested, could have said that the wife would not receive any benefit, unless required by federal law.
For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s ruling.
No. E2016-02308-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 11, 2017).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Tennessee Divorce Law on Retirement.
