Hall v. Hall
Hall v. Hall
Opinion of the Court
Larry Hall appeals from a judgment declaring that he is required to pay that part of his military retirement awarded to his wife by the divorce decree. The issue raised is whether the decision in McCarty v. McCarty, 453 U.S. 210, 101 S.Ct. 2728, 69 L.Ed.2d 589 (1981), — which holds that state courts cannot divide U.S. military retirement benefits — applies retroactively. We determine that it does not.
Hall and his wife were divorced on March 30,1979. The divorce decree incorporated a property settlement agreement in which he agreed to pay one-half of his United States Army retirement benefits to her. He made these payments until July 1981. In September 1981, he filed a declaratory action and sought a bill of review to set aside the property settlement agreement alleging that it was void. The trial court denied him any relief. We affirm.
The Supreme Court in McCarty held that federal law precludes a state court from dividing nondisability military retirement pay in connection with divorce proceedings pursuant to state community property laws.
We affirm the judgment.
. In arriving at our decision we observe the history of several Courts’ of Appeals cases after those courts denied relief to the retired service members on the basis that the McCarty decision is not to be applied retroactively. The retired service members in Rodriguez, Welch and Gaudion, supra, later sought and were denied habeas corpus relief by the Supreme Court without written opinions. Ex Parte Cleatus Eugene Welch, 25 Tex.Sup.Ct.J. 421 (July 17, 1982); Ex Parte John Joseph Gaudion, 25 Tex.Sup.Ct.J. 170 (February 13, 1982); and Ex Parte Simon Y, Rodriguez, 25 Tex.Sup.Ct.J. 110 (January 9, 1982).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.