One of our services most often used by individual parties, including those already represented by counsel, is technical writing on division orders for federal retirements, including active and reserve military retirements.
Aaron Drake is available on a retained basis to provide technical writing services on behalf of one party or on behalf of one party’s attorney. Usually this would be the natural result of an already existing professional case consultation. Certainly, if one party has the benefit of an expert consultant on military matters affecting divorce, that party is at an immense advantage relative to the other party who does not have similar professional consultation. Parties can be shocked to learn years after their divorce that one or two words carelessly (or deliberately) placed, have impacted tens of thousands of dollars in retirement assets.
That said, as the more equitable and efficient approach, Aaron prefers to work with both parties as a neutral mediator in effectuating the intent of division clauses in their (typically, stipulated) divorce decrees.
More often than not, parties to mediation (including their attorneys and the mediator) don’t know the technical requirements for division language for federal and military retirements and it’s often not a top priority when it comes to putting a global stipulation and settlement into writing. But that’s ok if the parties can generally agree on what assets must be divided and how they should be divided.
Upon our advice, and short of getting case-specific and data-specific verbiage from Aaron in advance of mediation, many attorneys and mediators put language in the stipulation that can be as simple as:
“Petitioner is entitled to a [military retirement/FERS retirement] and Respondent is entitled to an equal share of the marital portion of that retirement. The martial portion shall be determined as the service creditable toward retirement performed by Petitioner during the marriage, with the cut-off date being the [date of stipulation/date of decree]. Within 30 days of the decree being entered, the parties shall contract with attorney Aaron Drake or a similarly qualified attorney to serve as a neutral mediator in construing necessary data points and drafting of a division order that complies with federal law and regulation. Both parties shall immediately provide to Aaron Drake all records, data points, and documentation requested in furtherance of preparing and entering the division order. Aaron Drake’s fees shall be [split equally/paid by Party].”
Once the decree is entered, typically the parties reach out directly to contract with and work with us. They avoid fees with their own attorneys (if they have attorneys) while always retaining the right to have an attorney review any proposed division order. Aaron is available to prepare the order and then turn it back over to the attorneys on the case to finalize and file or Aaron is also available to enter an appearance as a neutral and file the documents on behalf of both parties.
Aaron has also worked as a neutral drafting and filing mediator for parties that have been divorced for years and even decades, but never got around to getting the division order prepared and submitted. These orders from older divorces must be prepared using the federal law as it existed prior to the major shift brought on by the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.
Many “military” divorces require division orders not just for the military retirement pay, but also for federal civilian “FERS” retirement, and one or more Thrift Savings Plan accounts. Aaron can also assist the parties in preparing language and forms required for naming a former spouse as the SBP beneficiary or FERS survivor annuity beneficiary and for submitting court orders to the appropriate agencies.
Working with Aaron as a neutral drafting mediator is by far the fairest and most efficient approach to getting division orders entered that will carry out the intent of the parties and be accepted by the corresponding federal agency pay administrator (e.g. OPM, TSP, DFAS).
