Stop-Loss Pay Update
Just got off a conference call with the Army Stop-Loss project officer. Here are the main takeaways from the phone call: * Number of apps is about 16k so far but many of these are duplicate apps or incomplete. His best estimate is that around 10k are legit. Of the incompletes and dups, most don’t have all or correct docs. This causes some of the processing slowdown as they review which apps are legit and which are not.  He said it appears some folks apply more than once–not helpful. * Vast majority are getting the standardized email claiming a mismatch—approx 90%. This goes to a difference between Army systems and docs being submitted. Of the mismatches of those

What’s the “Military Spouse Residency Relief Act” Mean to You?
A flurry of action lately on laws passed that benefit military members. • Homeowners’ Assistance Program payments were made tax-free. • The First-Time Home Buyers Credit extended for military members out to May 2011 if you had at least 90 days overseas service starting 1 Jan 09 to before 1 May 2010. Plus, the waiver of the 3-year occupancy requirement. Now military members who are PCS’d prior to living in the new home for 3 years do not have to pay back the tax credit. • Passage of the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act (MSRRA). So what’s the MSRRA mean to you? Now, your non-military spouse is allo

The Federal Long Term Care Premium Increase
I have received a number of calls and a couple of faxes from members upset about the premium increase in the Fed LTC program. The premium increase applies to the plan with the inflation protection. Members remember being told that under the inflation protection plan there would never be a premium increase. The faxes I received were copies of contracts that indicated no premium increase. Well, not exactly… In the case of the Fed LTC plan, the guaranteed premium rate was for the contract period. The contracts are for 7 years. There was no guarantee that premiums would never go up—ever. Don’t be surprised if there is another premium increase in the next round of contract

Take Care of Your Heirs
A perennial estate planning horror story is the one in which a man dies before revising his will leaving everything to his ex-wife instead of to his current spouse as he intended.  While none of us would allow this to happen, we could have other potential horror stories lurking in our retirement plans.    Beneficiary designations should be reviewed annually and updated whenever there is a significant “life event” such as birth, death or divorce.  That single document is more powerful than you might think because it can override the instructions in your will or trust.  Your plan administrator is responsible for maintaining these instructions but paperwork can get lost and

Heard About the Survivor Benefit Plan-Dependency Indemnity Compensation Court Case Win?
In August, three widows won their court case against the Feds to have both their SBP and DIC paid in full. Before you start to celebrate, you need to hear the rest of the story… This case specifically related to the law that allows widows who remarry after age 57 to keep their DIC benefits. Their case argued that the wording of the law that allows continued DIC after age 57 and remarriage also mandates full payment of both SBP and DIC. This specific provision of the law bars offsets from any “veterans’ benefits.” While the Feds argued that SBP is not a “veterans’ benefit” because SBP is paid by DOD and not the VA, the courts didn’t buy it. So the bottom line