Action Alert: Support Bill to Protect Disabled Fathers from Family Court Abuses

Final Update (4/16/10): Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed HB 2348 into law. Update, 1/28/10: Fathers & Families issued an Action Alert in support of Arizona HB 2348, a bill to protect disabled parents from child support and alimony abuses. As usual, your response was overwhelming—we thank all those who participated. We have just learned that the bill has passed the Arizona House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee unanimously. We thank Arizona House Member Frank Antenori, who sponsored the bill, as well as Mark Beres of the American Retirees Association and the ULSG, and Fathers & Families’ legislative representative Michael Robinson, who worked with Beres.
Robinson was also instrumental in the passage of a similar bill, SB 285, in California last year. We will be following the bill as it advances through the Arizona legislature—thanks again to all of your who responded to our Action Alert and participated. Together with you in the love of our children, Glenn Sacks, MA Executive Director, Fathers & Families Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S. Founder, Chairman of the Board, Fathers & Families * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Arizona HB 2348 will help protect disabled fathers (and mothers) from child support and alimony abuses–to email and fax a letter in support of the bill, click here. The hearing on the bill is Wednesday January 27, so please act ASAP. Although federal law is clear, judges are often ignoring it and calculating veterans” disability compensation into divorce settlements as a divisible asset. Very often these payments are the only assets a veteran has. When judges include it as income, it creates great hardship for those veterans, who rarely have the resources to hire legal help to contest the taking of their benefits. HB 2348 will help end this practice–to email and fax a letter in support of the bill to all members of the Arizona House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee to express your support for HB 2348, click here.  Veterans” service-connected disability compensation is intended to financially compensate a military veteran disabled in the line of duty. This compensation is not an asset, or property–it is awarded to a veteran that has lost some/all physical or mental ability to work, or maintain a daily routine. Veterans’ disability compensation is tax exempt and not classified as ‘income” by the IRS. Under federal law, VA disability compensation is non-transferable and cannot be awarded to a third party under any legal process whatsoever.  VA Disability compensation is not remuneration for employment, and it belongs solely to the disabled veteran that has suffered the disability. Many family court judges are ignoring all of this–to email and fax a letter in support of the bill to allmembers of the Arizona House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee to express your support for HB 2348, click here.  Last year Fathers & Families’ legislative representative Michael Robinson successfully worked to pass California SB 285 (sponsored by Democratic Senator Rod Wright), which protected disabled veterans’ VA disability compensation. Advocates and legislators from several other states have contacted us about SB 285, seeking to pass similar legislation in their states. Arizona House Member Frank Antenori’s HB 2348 is the first of these to make it to committee–to email and fax a letter in support of the bill to all members of the Arizona House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee to express your support for HB 2348, click here.  F & F is also working with advocates and legislators on similar legislation in Texas and New Mexico, and is laying the groundwork for legislation in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois. It also appears that a failed 2009 legislative effort in Iowa has been revived by CA. SB 285’s passage. In addition, a U.S. Congressman has taken up this issue and we are helping him craft a federal bill which we expect will be introduced in the near future. The abuses being committed in family court concerning disabled parents’ VA benefits remind many F & F supporters of their own experiences in family court–a lack of respect for the law, violations of due process, fathers (and sometimes mothers) being financially plundered and shook down for money they don’t owe, etc. F & F is creating real, tangible family court reform today. Give to the organization which fights for you by clicking here. Together with you in the love of our children, Glenn Sacks, MA Executive Director, Fathers & Families Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S. Founder, Chairman of the Board, Fathers & Families Fathers & Families’ Letter in Support of HB 2348 Subject line: We Urge You to Support HB 2348 to Protect Disabled Veterans Dear Representative: We are writing to you in support of Arizona HB 2348, a bill to help protect disabled veterans that is being heard in the House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, January 27. Although federal law is clear, judges are often ignoring it and calculating veterans” disability compensation into divorce settlements as a divisible asset. Very often these payments are the only assets a veteran has. When judges include it as income, it creates great hardship for those veterans, who rarely have the resources to hire legal help to contest the taking of their benefits. HB 2348 will help end this practice and make sure that Arizona judges are following federal law. Last year California passed a similar bill, SB 285, which was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in October. Veterans” service-connected disability compensation is intended to financially compensate a military veteran disabled in the line of duty. This compensation is not an asset, or property–it is awarded to a veteran that has lost some/all physical or mental ability to work, or maintain a daily routine. Veterans’ disability compensation is tax exempt and not classified as ‘income” by the IRS. Under federal law, VA disability compensation is non-transferable and cannot be awarded to a third party under any legal process whatsoever. VA Disability compensation is not remuneration for employment, and it belongs solely to the disabled veteran that has suffered the disability. Unfortunately, many family court judges are violating federal law, and many disabled veterans are being harmed. Fathers & Families believes that HB 2348 will help end these abuses and protect those who have served. We urge you to support the bill.