Q: If my mother is caring for my father and they are divorced, is she still eligible for compensation through his Veterans benefits?
A: Under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act (USFSPA), enacted in 1982, a state court is permitted to award a percentage of the service member's pension to the former spouse.
If they had been married for at least 10 years, then the former spouse may also apply to the federal government to receive the payments directly from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. By the way, remarriage of the former spouse does not affect the payments.
For more detailed information on this topic, see the USFSPA Factsheet here: http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/garnishment/fsfact.html
K. Gabriel Heiser is an elder law attorney and author of "How to Protect Your Family's Assets from Devastating Nursing Home Costs: Medicaid Secrets."
Read his full biography