Divorcing the Military: How to attack, how to defend

Marshal S. Willick | Willick Law Group

Marshal S. Willick is the principal of the Willick Law Group, an A/V rated Family Law firm in Las Vegas, Nevada, and practices in trial and appellate Family Law. He is a Certified Family Law Specialist, a Fellow of both the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL), former Chair of the Nevada Bar Family Law Section and former President of the Nevada chapter of the AAML. He has authored many books and articles on Family Law and retirement benefits issues and was managing editor of the Nevada Family Law Practice Manual. He is a frequent teacher of continuing legal education classes and is often sought as a lecturer on family law issues.

In addition to litigating trial and appellate cases in Nevada, Mr. Willick has participated in hundreds of divorce and pension cases in the trial and appellate courts of other states, and in the drafting of various state and federal statutes in the areas of divorce and property division. He has chaired several Committees of the American Bar Association Family Law Section, AAML, and Nevada Bar, has served on many more committees, boards, and commissions of those organizations, and has been called on to sometimes represent the entire ABA in Congressional hearings on military pension matters. He has served as an alternate judge in various courts, and frequently testifies as an expert witness. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada.

Mr. Willick received his B.A. from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in 1979, with honors, and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., in 1982. Before entering private practice, he served on the Central Legal Staff of the Nevada Supreme Court for two years.

Mr. Willick can be reached at 3591 East Bonanza Rd., Ste. 200, Las Vegas, NV 89110- 2101. His phone number is (702) 438-4100, extension 103. Fax is (702) 438-5311. Email can be directed to Marshal@willicklawgroup.com, and additional information can be obtained from the firm web sites, www.willicklawgroup.com and http://www.qdromasters.com.

I. Military retirement benefits: What it is and how to use it | 1:00pm – 1:30pm

• Property, alimony, and child support
• “Federal Jurisdiction” necessity for division of military retirement benefits as property under 10 U.S.C. § 1408
• Disposable Retired Pay: what it is, what it does not include, and why it is important
• The “10/10” Rule relating to direct payment to a spouse from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) under 10 U.S.C. § 1072 and what to do in a less than-ten-year-overlap case
• 20/20/20 Spouses
• The Survivor’s Benefit Plan (SBP)
• The Continuation of Health Care Benefits Plan (CHCBP)

II. The Frozen Benefit Rule of National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2017 | 1:30pm – 2:00pm

• Definitions
• How it works
• What to do about it

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

III. Military Disability | 2:10pm – 2:40pm

• Terminology: Veteran’s Affairs (VA), Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP), and Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Benefits
• Howell v. Howell and the end of indemnification
• Or was it? Contract Theory and res judicata

IV. The Blended Retirement System Effective 2018 | 2:40pm – 3:10pm

• The four components to military retired pay: Defined Contribution Thrift Savings Plan (TSP); Defined Benefit Pension; Continuation Pay; and Elective Lump Sum options
• What changed and why
• Changes in strategy, tactics, and options, including what to put in orders, how to calculate spousal shares, and what to watch out for to protect clients