## Facts

- Gerald E. Mansell, a retired Air Force Major, and Gaye M. Mansell divorced in California in 1979 after a 23-year marriage.
- Their settlement agreement, incorporated into the divorce decree, required Mr. Mansell to pay Mrs. Mansell 50% of his total military retirement pay, including amounts he waived to receive military disability benefits.
- After McCarty v. McCarty held federal law preempted state division of military retirement pay, Congress enacted the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (USFSPA), 10 U.S.C. § 1408.
- The USFSPA allows state courts to treat “disposable retired or retainer pay” as divisible property, and defines that term to exclude retirement pay waived to receive veterans’ disability benefits.
- After enactment of the USFSPA, Mr. Mansell sought to modify the decree to limit any division to “disposable retired or retainer pay.”
- The California Superior Court denied modification, and the California Court of Appeal affirmed, concluding the USFSPA did not bar treating waived retirement pay as community property.
- The U.S. Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction to resolve the scope of state authority under the USFSPA.

## Issues

1. Whether the USFSPA authorizes state courts to treat as divisible marital/community property military retirement pay that the retiree has waived to receive veterans’ disability benefits.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed (7–2) and remanded.
- The Court held the USFSPA does not permit state courts to divide as property any portion of military retired pay waived to receive veterans’ disability benefits.
- The Court concluded California’s order requiring payment based on total retired pay, including waived amounts, exceeded the authority granted by 10 U.S.C. § 1408.

## Legal Principles

- Under 10 U.S.C. § 1408(c)(1), state courts may treat as divisible property only “disposable retired or retainer pay.”
- “Disposable retired or retainer pay,” as defined in 10 U.S.C. § 1408(a)(4), excludes amounts of retired pay waived to receive veterans’ disability benefits.
- The statutory definition limits state-court power to classify and divide military retired pay in divorce; contrary state property rules are preempted to the extent they exceed that federal authorization.
- The Act is not merely an enforcement or direct-payment statute; its text imposes substantive limits on what state courts may divide.

## Conclusion

The Supreme Court held that the USFSPA confines state divorce courts to dividing only “disposable retired pay” and bars treating waived military retired pay (exchanged for veterans’ disability benefits) as marital/community property subject to division.


Mansell v. Mansell, 490 U.S. 581 (1989)