Allow's be clear here; VA can hateful either Virginia or Veterans Affairs depending entirely on context. Perchance yous live in the state of VA, or maybe you collect well-deserved benefits from Veterans Diplomacy, which you casually telephone call "the VA." All well and expert. If, however, you collect disability compensation benefits from Veterans Diplomacy while living in Virginia, then yous're talking about VA VA, and perhaps it'south time to go lie down. Nosotros must printing on, though, because the nagging question is, tin your ex-wife or soon-to-exist ex-married woman get her easily on some of that VA benefit here in VA? Here'southward the word from our experienced armed services divorce lawyers:

VA Benefits & Disability Income

Nosotros must tread cautiously in defining our terms. Veterans Affairs benefits, such every bit disability income, are, according to the American Bar Association, not subject to "levy, seizure or attachment." Your get-to legalese on this is U.s.a. Code Championship 38 Office IV Affiliate 53, casually known past readers of these things equally 38 U.S.C. §5301(a)(1), which prevents your disability income from beingness taken by creditors. Your ex-wife is not a creditor. And your disability benefit is income. And then she can be awarded a chunk of your VA benefits in spousal support.

But I Earned My VA Disability!

As ane grows older and wiser, i appreciates the distinction between the constabulary and justice. Yes, y'all may have earned VA inability income by becoming disabled in the line of duty serving your state. Simply that, unfortunately, is not the point of disability income. You are receiving money to provide "familial support" from the VA so that your inability does not hamper your family unit's power to live decently.

This was settled every bit far back as 1984 past the Supreme Court of the United states in Rose v. Rose, where SCOTUS found that VA benefits are not intended specifically to support only the veteran earning them. And that, sir, means she gets a piece of that pie. If yous need a lower court ruling closer to domicile, nosotros tin can requite you Virginia's ainLambert v. Lambert of 1990. Same issue, same outcome: information technology's income. She gets a slice equally spousal or familial back up.

What is Considered Income When Considering Support?

For calculating spousal or familial support (helping her, or helping your children and her), the Virginia Lawmaking defines "gross income" as income from ALL sources. This ways all manner of money coming to yous:

  • Salary
  • Wages
  • Commissions
  • Royalties—that striking song yous wrote in 1973 still brings in beer money, correct?
  • Bonuses
  • Dividends
  • Severance pay—now that's just harsh, but your terminal job'south last cheque is still income
  • Pensions
  • Interest
  • Inheritance
  • Trust income—ah, the cushy life of a trust fund baby…not y'all? Read on
  • Annuities
  • Capital gains
  • Spousal support
  • Gifts—Who tin can put a toll on your dashing skilful looks? Nope, not those kinds of gifts
  • Prizes—Nosotros're pretty sure the correct legal term is "fabulous prizes," since that'due south how they're always described on game shows
  • Awards—We're non talking well-nigh your bowling trophy; this means cash awards in academia (like a Nobel Prize), from settlements, and from legal actions
  • Social Security benefits
  • Worker'southward Compensation benefits
  • Unemployment insurance benefits
  • Disability insurance benefits
  • Veterans' benefits

You caught that last one, correct? Co-ordinate to the Virginia Land Bar, your Veterans Affairs benefits, for disability or annihilation else, are income, and are subject to inclusion in calculations of spousal or familial back up.

In calculating all your income from all sources, just put the VA benefits in in that location with everything else. All the money is in a pool, and she gets a courtroom-adamant portion of that puddle money. That is all to say that spousal or familial back up must include VA inability benefits. It does not speak to division of property, real and otherwise, in dissolving your Virginia marriage.

Can VA Disability Benefits Be Divided in Property Division?

The glimmer of good news here is that your VA disability benefits cannot be divided in property sectionalisation, the stride when the courts say she gets the house and y'all get the outhouse. But as SCOTUS decided your VA benefits could exist part of your income for calculating support, SCOTUS as well decided to put it above the partitioning of property, in 1989's Mansell 5. Mansell. (These cases are all Me v. Myself considering the married married man and wife shared the same final proper noun; this is less common today). In the Mansell decision, SCOTUS interpreted federal law to not permit division or segmentation of disability benefits as community or marital property upon divorce. So there you become—she can take a portion in spousal support, but information technology does not get divvied up as halfsies.

Have a Question most Your VA Disability?

Contact the Family Law Firm Military Servicemembers Trust

To get proficient legal advice on exactly how spousal or familial support is calculated, and exactly how your VA inability benefits are treated, consult the lawyers at The Firm for Men. Contact The Firm For Men today to prepare an appointment or give us a call at 757-383-9184. We've been serving Hampton Roads' seven cities and beyond for over a decade, from Virginia Embankment, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Suffolk and Portsmouth to Hampton and Newport News. Permit us put our feel to piece of work for you!

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