thedrifter
05-07-08, 07:05 AM
New rule to let servicemembers allot all of their death gratuity
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, May 7, 2008
ARLINGTON, Va. — U.S. troops soon will control distribution of their
entire $100,000 death gratuity, instead of just half that amount, with
the Pentagon mandating who gets the remaining sum.
The rule change, which is called for in the National Defense
Authorization Act of 2008, is part of an ongoing effort by lawmakers
since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began to overhaul the way
families are compensated if a member is killed in action.
As of July 1, servicemembers will be allowed to assign all of their
$100,000 posthumous payment to recipients of their preference, whether
or not those people are related by blood or marriage.
Servicemembers can choose up to 10 beneficiaries for the gratuity, and
divide the $100,000 benefit among those people in 10 percent
increments.
For example, a servicemember could allocate $10,000, $20,000, and
$70,000 to three different beneficiaries, such as his mother, his best
friend and his wife.
Current rules allow members to designate one person to receive up to 50
percent of the gratuity owed survivors if they are killed in action.
But
the rest of the gratuity is assigned according to a hierarchy
established by the Pentagon, beginning with the surviving spouse.
Under the new law, if a military member has a spouse but elects to
leave
some or the entire gratuity to anyone other than the spouse, the
service
must notify the spouse that this has happened.
And if a military member chooses to allocate only part of the gratuity
or none of it, the law sets up a new, less complex hierarchy of
inheritance than the one originally established by the Pentagon:
spouse,
children, parents, executor or administrator of the person’s estate,
and
next of kin, in that order.
Led by Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, who introduced three House bills in
2007
to modify the death gratuity allocation rules, lawmakers voted to make
the Pentagon change the rules after learning of instances where
survivors were suffering financially because they did not have legal
access to death benefits.
In a press release on the subject he issued last July, Latham cited the
example of Petty Officer 2nd Class Jamie Jaenke, who was killed by a
roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006.
Jaenke’s 9-year-old daughter, Kayla, was being cared for by
Jaenke’s
mother and father, and the sailor had provided written instructions
that
a portion of the death gratuity benefit be given to them.
But this was not a legal option under rules that state a spouse or
child
can be the only recipient, the release said.
The result, until the matter is resolved, is “countless financial
hardships,” the release states.
Ellie
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, May 7, 2008
ARLINGTON, Va. — U.S. troops soon will control distribution of their
entire $100,000 death gratuity, instead of just half that amount, with
the Pentagon mandating who gets the remaining sum.
The rule change, which is called for in the National Defense
Authorization Act of 2008, is part of an ongoing effort by lawmakers
since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began to overhaul the way
families are compensated if a member is killed in action.
As of July 1, servicemembers will be allowed to assign all of their
$100,000 posthumous payment to recipients of their preference, whether
or not those people are related by blood or marriage.
Servicemembers can choose up to 10 beneficiaries for the gratuity, and
divide the $100,000 benefit among those people in 10 percent
increments.
For example, a servicemember could allocate $10,000, $20,000, and
$70,000 to three different beneficiaries, such as his mother, his best
friend and his wife.
Current rules allow members to designate one person to receive up to 50
percent of the gratuity owed survivors if they are killed in action.
But
the rest of the gratuity is assigned according to a hierarchy
established by the Pentagon, beginning with the surviving spouse.
Under the new law, if a military member has a spouse but elects to
leave
some or the entire gratuity to anyone other than the spouse, the
service
must notify the spouse that this has happened.
And if a military member chooses to allocate only part of the gratuity
or none of it, the law sets up a new, less complex hierarchy of
inheritance than the one originally established by the Pentagon:
spouse,
children, parents, executor or administrator of the person’s estate,
and
next of kin, in that order.
Led by Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, who introduced three House bills in
2007
to modify the death gratuity allocation rules, lawmakers voted to make
the Pentagon change the rules after learning of instances where
survivors were suffering financially because they did not have legal
access to death benefits.
In a press release on the subject he issued last July, Latham cited the
example of Petty Officer 2nd Class Jamie Jaenke, who was killed by a
roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006.
Jaenke’s 9-year-old daughter, Kayla, was being cared for by
Jaenke’s
mother and father, and the sailor had provided written instructions
that
a portion of the death gratuity benefit be given to them.
But this was not a legal option under rules that state a spouse or
child
can be the only recipient, the release said.
The result, until the matter is resolved, is “countless financial
hardships,” the release states.
Ellie