Chase v. Chase, 6296
| Decision Date | 29 April 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 6296,6296 |
| Citation | 662 P.2d 944 |
| Parties | James Henry CHASE, Appellant, v. Marlene Greer CHASE, Appellee. |
| Court | Alaska Supreme Court |
Jeffrey M. Feldman, Gilmore & Feldman, Anchorage, for appellant.
Wilson A. Rice, Law Offices of John Reese and Wilson A. Rice, P.C., Anchorage, for appellee.
Before BURKE, C.J., and RABINOWITZ, MATTHEWS and COMPTON, JJ.
The issue presented on appeal is whether military retirement benefits are divisible marital property upon dissolution of marriage.
James Henry and Marlene Greer Chase were married on August 13, 1955. One year prior to the marriage, James had entered the United States Air Force. He retired in 1974 and began to collect his military retirement pay.
Divorce proceedings were initiated in January 1980. A property settlement agreement was filed with the trial court and resolved all aspects of the Chases' property, with the exception of James's retirement pay. A subsequent stipulation was entered into and filed by the parties which divided James's retirement pay if the court held that such pay was legally divisible upon divorce. If the military retirement pay was not divisible property, then Marlene would receive one-half of the remainder of the marital estate as per the property agreement, waiving any right to alimony, support, or maintenance.
The superior court held that James's military retirement pay was available for equitable division and was to be divided in accordance with the terms of the stipulated agreement: Marlene to receive one-half ( 1/2) of nineteen-twentieths ( 19/20ths) of his retirement pay.
In Cose v. Cose, 592 P.2d 1230 (Alaska 1979), cert. denied 453 U.S. 922, 101 S.Ct. 3158, 69 L.Ed.2d 1004 (1981), we held that the federal Supremacy Clause preempts and prohibits the application of the state's property law to military retirement pay. The United States Supreme Court used like reasoning in McCarty v. McCarty, 453 U.S. 210, 101 S.Ct. 2728, 69 L.Ed.2d 589 (1981) and held that Congress intended retirement pay to be a personal and exclusive entitlement of the military retiree. As such, the application of state property law dividing the retiree's military pay upon divorce was prohibited.
In September 1982, however, Congress passed the Department of Defense Authorization Act which included Title X, the Uniform Services Former Spouses Protection Act. This title provides that a court may treat disposable military retirement pay either as property solely of the military member or as property of both the member and spouse in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction of such court. P.L. 97-252...
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Marriage of Gallo, In re
...before marriage of the importance military retirement benefits play in a military household's economic portfolio.8 E.g., Chase v. Chase, 662 P.2d 944 (Alaska 1983); Steczo v. Steczo, 135 Ariz. 199, 659 P.2d 1344 (App.1983); Womack v. Womack, 16 Ark.App. 139, 698 S.W.2d 306 (1985); In re Mar......
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Butcher v. Butcher
...are marital property and are subject to equitable distribution as well as alimony and child support obligations. E.g., Chase v. Chase, 662 P.2d 944 (Alaska 1983); Edsall v. Superior Court, 143 Ariz. 240, 693 P.2d 895 (1984) (In Banc); In Re Marriage of Sarles, 143 Cal.App.3d 24, 191 Cal.Rpt......
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Major v. Major
...Coates, 650 S.W.2d 307, 309-10 (Mo.Ct.App.1983); Steczo v. Steczo, 135 Ariz. 199, 200-01, 659 P.2d 1344 (Ct.App.1983); Chase v. Chase, 662 P.2d 944, 945-46 (Alaska 1983); Hartzell v. Hartzell, 434 So.2d 353, 354-55 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1983); Faught v. Faught, 67 N.C.App. 37, 47-48, 312 S.E.2d ......
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Bullock v. Bullock, 10537
...is to leave to the states the final decision concerning the divisibility of military non-disability retirement pay. See Chase v. Chase, 662 P.2d 944, 946 (Alaska 1983); De Gryse v. De Gryse, 135 Ariz. 335, 661 P.2d 185, 187 (1983); In re Marriage of Buikema, 139 Cal.App.3d 689, 188 Cal.Rptr......