Pentagon Collects Former Husbands’ Debts : Servicemen’s Ex-Wives Find Income Cut

WASHINGTON —  Vivian Filemyr’s health is frail and money is tight, so when the government suddenly slashed her share of her ex-husband’s military pension, she had to plead with doctors and creditors to accept less than usual when bills came due.

The 66-year-old Austin woman says her main source of income was cut without warning in May, from about $1,100 a month to $900, and she has spent the last two months trying to find out why.

She thinks the cut came because her ex-husband, a retired colonel, may have incurred a debt to the government many years after their 1972 divorce.

Can’t Get Information

The military won’t say more, she said, because it would be an invasion of his privacy.

“My credit rating is being hurt; I have to call my creditors and say my check is reduced, and I don’t know why, and I can’t pay you,” Filemyr said.

Congressional officials and members of an ex-wives support group in Alexandria, Va., say Filemyr’s case is not unique and may illustrate a growing trend as the government cracks down on its bad debts.

“The government--they’ll get their money any way they can,” said Shirley Taft, former president of EX-POSE, or Ex-Partners of Servicemen-women for Equality.

“We’ve heard from quite a few (women), and it’s quite devastating. They don’t even know why it’s being reduced, and the finance centers won’t tell them. They only know the man’s gone into debt for something,” Taft said.

Meet With Officials

She said representatives of the group met with Pentagon officials in July to argue that the ex-wives should not be held liable for debts incurred by their former spouses after the divorce is final.

But the Pentagon told the group “chances of an administrative change are very slim,” she said.

Congressional hearings on the matter and other related issues are planned in September before a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, says a spokeswoman for Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), who sponsored the 1982 Former Spouse Protection Act.

Under the bill, courts can award a portion of a serviceman’s retirement check to the former spouse. If the couple were married at least 10 years, the ex-wife can receive the money directly through the military’s finance centers, Taft said.

Retains Status Quo

Maj. David Super, Pentagon spokesman, said the military is looking into the situation but continues to “operate with existing administrative rules and laws.”

Taft said her organization plans to poll its 3,500 members about the problem this month.

“This is not an isolated case,” Filemyr wrote in a letter to Rep. J. J. Pickle (D-Tex.). “I have spoken with various women across the country who have related to me that they are in the same situation.”

Filemyr said she was divorced after 25 years of marriage and was on welfare for years as she fought for the 1982 law.

‘I’ve Had it Rough’

“I only had a little job here, a little job there, and I kept getting sicker,” she said. “I’ve had it rough, yes, I’ve had it rough.” Her only other source of income is a monthly Social Security check of about $160, she said.

Schroeder’s spokeswoman said the congresswoman plans to introduce legislation that would divide retirement pay according to a formula based on the number of years of service and the length of the marriage, rather than leaving the decision to individual courts or states.