New form required for divorced spouses to get military pension survivor benefit
Military family law guru Mark Sullivan of Raleigh tipped me off about this. This new form will become the only way to elect military survivor benefit coverage in a divorce. Its use is mandatory after Sept. 30, 2008 but it can be used even before that. The form, like the informal letters that were used for this in the past, is subject to a one-year deadline, which Mark describes as follows:
The application for SBP coverage is governed by two deadlines. If the
member/retiree applies for coverage, the deadline is one year from the date of divorce. If the spouse/former spouse requests coverage, she must send in her court order requiring coverage within one year of the date of the order. The latter is called the "deemed election" process.
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