In re Marriage of Gaddis

In In re Marriage of Gaddis, 191 Ariz. 467, 957 P.2d 1010 (App. 1997), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 826, 142 L. Ed. 2d 57, 119 S. Ct. 73 (1998), the Court concluded that "Arizona law does not permit, and federal law does not require," reduction of a former spouse's decreed interest in military retirement benefits based on the retired veteran's post-dissolution waiver of those benefits in order to receive civil service compensation. 191 Ariz. at 469, 957 P.2d at 1012. Accordingly, the Court upheld the trial court's order that had compelled the husband to pay "'the original, actual value'" of the wife's interest in the retirement benefits. Id. at 468, 957 P.2d at 1011. The Court found no violation of federal law because the trial court "did not divide a portion of retirement pay that had been waived due to civil service employment at the time of the decree." Id. at 470, 957 P.2d at 1013. And the Court distinguished Mansell because the dissolution decree there had "awarded the wife a community property interest in the portion of retirement pay the husband already had waived to receive disability benefits and thus directly conflicted with the requirements of 10 U.S.C. 1408(a)(4)(B) and 1408(c)." Id.