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Open Enrollment Period To Expire Soon For Same-Sex Couples’ Survivor Benefits – Lawyers With Purpose

by with No Comment VA

In compliance with the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, the Department of Defense (DoD) has opened enrollment for the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) to retired military personnel who are gay and married.  The Survivor Benefit Plan is income that a widow receives when that person's retired military spouse dies. It replaces, up to 55%, the pension the retiree was receiving prior to death. When the military retiree dies, the pension terminates. Without the SBP, the widow could face financial hardship.

Bigstock-Calendar-Icon-31357748Enrollment in the program is not automatic. Retirees or their widows must act before June 25, 2014 to participate in the SBP Open Enrollment Window. 

DoD guidance is as follows:

  • Any claims to SBP spouse coverage for same-sex spouses of eligible participants of the SBP for periods before June 26, 2013, are not valid, as the Defense of Marriage Act was still the law and in effect prior to June 26, 2013.  As a result, no SBP premiums for such coverage will be charged prior to that date.  Further, no SBP annuity payments for such coverage will be paid for deaths occurring before that date.
  • Effective from June 26, 2013, a person who becomes eligible to participate under 10 U.S.C. 1448 (a)(1) and is married to a same-sex partner shall have the SBP program applied as for any other married couple under section 10 U.S.C. 1448, including the requirements for spousal consent for less than full annuity coverage of the spouse.
  • A person who was married to a same-sex partner upon becoming eligible to participate in the plan prior to June 26, 2013, and who had married that same-sex partner before June 26, 2013, shall have one year from June 26, 2013, to make a spouse election under 10 U.S.C. 1448(a)(3).  Such person may not participate at less than maximum coverage described in 10 U.S.C. 1448(a)(3) without the concurrence of the person’s spouse unless they already had provided an annuity for a dependent child.  If an election is not received on or before June 25, 2014, full spousal coverage shall be entered and the member shall be responsible for payment of premiums effective from June 26, 2013.
  • A person who is married to a same-sex partner on June 26, 2013 and has insurable interest coverage under the SBP may terminate the insurable interest coverage and elect spouse coverage.  This election must be received on or before June 25, 2014. 
  • A person who was not married upon becoming eligible to participate in the plan, but who married a same-sex partner before June 26, 2013, shall have one year from June 26, 2013, to make a spouse election under 10 U.S.C. 1448(a)(5).  The election must be received on or before June 25, 2014, or the person shall be prohibited by law from making such election.
  • Generally, a person who is a participant in the plan and is providing coverage under the SBP for a spouse, who later does not have an eligible spouse beneficiary may, under 10 U.S.C. 1448(a)(6), elect not to provide coverage for a new spouse in the event of a remarriage. 
  • For a person who enters into a same-sex marriage after June 26, 2013, the election to discontinue participation under 10 U.S.C. 1448(a)(6) must be made within one year of the remarriage.  If a member does not discontinue participation, then pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 1448(a)(6), spouse coverage will resume effective on the first anniversary of the marriage. 
  • If the remarriage took place prior to June 26, 2013, the participant has one year from June 26, 2013 to elect out of SBP.  If a member does not make such an election within one year of June 26, 2013, then pursuant to section 10 U.S.C. 1448(a)(6), spouse coverage will resume effective no earlier than June 25, 2014.
  • Additionally, any such person falling within the parameters of section 10 U.S.C. 1448(g), shall have one year from June 26, 2013, or the date of any marriage subsequent to that date, to elect to increase the level of coverage under 10 U.S.C.  1448(g).

Now that marriage rights are recognized, more benefits are becoming available. However, some, like SBP, have open enrollment periods and deadlines to receive the benefits. To protect your spouse, ACT NOW.  Lawyers may want to send a letter to all of their clients advising them of this change.

Victoria L. Collier is a Veteran and Certified Elder Law Attorney, Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Co-Founder of Lawyers With Purpose LLC, and author of “47 Secret Veterans’ Benefits for Seniors—Benefits You Have Earned … but Don’t Know About.”

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This Has To Work

by with No Comment Uncategorized

It's Super Bowl week, and as you can imagine, the energy in the Mile High City is infectious. Community is brewing, and the birthplace of “America the Beautiful” is a giant love fest. The grocery stores, offices, banks and bus stops are all buzzing with “We got this!! Right?” For the past17 Sundays we’ve devoted our sacred recipes, handcrafted microbrews and family days, which took on a whole new religious zeal.  All anybody can talk about the past few weeks is spreads, odds and luck. I have to say, as a born and raised Buffalo Bills gal, it warms my heart to be “part of” a Super Bowl team (hold the Norwide jokes please).

 

Bigstock-Football-Fan-Celebration-21038801It’s been said that fear is the flip side of excitement. I am seeing evidence of this; the verve of January 1st is slowly fading as we approach flipping the calendar past the first month of the New Year.  Weekly football stakes, new budgets, revenue goals, and health goals are all officially moving from “game on” and resolutions to tenacity and inevitability. Something about February brings a purposeless calm to the calendar as a whole. The buzz is stripped harshly from the air once the Monday after Super Bowl hits. It really doesn’t matter if you follow football or not, it’s the reality of too many days ahead to count until the next excitement (socially acceptable distraction). There’s a melancholy stillness.

Just like the excitement/anxiety coin tossing around in Colorado right now, I see so many law firms experiencing the same emotions of “This has to work out.” The circumstance might be that you just hired your very first employee, or set a revenue goal that you have never set before, or committed to new office space that you are not certain you can afford.  When the hype and excitement is stripped away, we find ourselves in the quiet of “this has to work out,” and that is honestly never a feeling we want to have, especially when it's not “just a game.”  So when you find yourself with that feeling, ask yourself, is the “have to” feeling truth?  WHY does what we are doing right now have to work?  Am I putting the intentional time and intention in (training that new employee), or is the “have to” because I don’t want to go back to the locker room, huddle, engineer Plan B and then recourse.

It is just like the two-minute warning: If you are willing to declare that something just isn’t working, to confront the brutal facts of your current reality, in the face of absolute fear, you can find the courage to stop, recourse and commit to ending the insanity. That’s the beauty.  At the end of the game, nothing has to work other than your willingness to let go of “this has to work” and call another play when “Omaha” is no longer going in the right direction.

Molly L. Hall, Co-Founder, Lawyers With Purpose, LLC, and author of Don’t Be a Yes Chick: How to Stop Babysitting Your Boss, Transform Your Job and Work with a Dream Team Without Losing Your Sanity or Your Spirit in the Process.

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Do You Know Lorraine?

by with No Comment Uncategorized

Bigstock-Beautiful-Portrait-Of-An-Elder-5884730Recently, while reading the obituaries, I saw that Jeff, my neighbor’s father, died at the age of 78. While viewed as somewhat ordinary, it immediately made me flash back to my childhood and growing up in a neighborhood of over 25 kids, ten of which were myself and my siblings and seven were Jeff and his wife, Lorraine’s, all the same age as one of us.

We grew up in the 70s playing kick the can, red rover, red light/green light and many other outdoor games to keep ourselves busy (there were no video games in those days). With Jeff dying, it symbolized the end of an era we see as the “good old days” where you can relate back to where you came from and appreciate the simple things. I made it a point to visit Lorraine and her children, several of whom I was still casually in touch with, to express my condolences.

Unfortunately for Lorraine, she not only had to deal with the loss of her husband of 55 years, but also had to deal with the tremendous unknown of having to maintain her life without him. You see, Jeff did everything; he paid the bills, managed the finances, and handled all the financial responsibilities of the household, while Lorraine managed the family. Lorraine did not even know how much money they made each month. She was unsure of what bills had to be paid and she was scared to figure it all out now, without her most important ally with her. As an estate-planning attorney, the family naturally started to ask me questions, which began with, what we in the business often refer to as, “the morbid scavenger hunt” – that is, the hunt for information after someone has passed to try and figure out what was being done. They were unaware of insurance policies, financial accounts, bank accounts and, in fact, Lorraine did not even have power of attorney for Jeff in his final phase of life.

This very stressful time leading up to Jeff’s death and after his passing was exacerbated by the unknown and the additional fear created by it. Do you know someone like Lorraine? The truth is estate planning is ensuring you have a plan in place to handle the legal and financial matters while you are alive and healthy, after you become disabled, and after you pass. Ultimately, a properly drawn estate plan will also provide for a smooth transition after the second passing and, most importantly, avoid the family fights.

Lucky for Lorraine, I am an estate-planning attorney and do this every day of my life. And because I have a strong affinity to her, I was willing to sit in her kitchen and go through information with her and her children to try to assemble the past, resolving all the unknowns. We began calls to the insurance companies and some miscellaneous names she had given me all to try to discover all the pieces and parts that made up her financial life. The good news is we are making headway; but it didn’t have to be this stressful.

I feel for Lorraine and I encourage those of you who are not actively involved in your estate to begin the journey of knowledge now to alleviate the unnecessary pain created by the unknown after the pain of losing your loved one.

David J. Zumpano, Esq., CPA, Co-founder Lawyers With Purpose, Founder of MPS, Founder and Senior Partner of EState Planning Law Center.