Me and Bill, Where It All Began
I’ve been neglecting this blog for too long. My June Resolution is, make something happen here.
One thing that might help is if I told you all a little about myself. I’m a retiree from the Federal Civil Service (CSRS) and also a retiree from the USAF Reserve Forces. I had a 31 year marriage, that ‘went south’ in the year 2,000 … New Millennium, New Life, eh?
My wife at the time and I separated gradually over time. I had already moved out of the house, bought my own place to live and was giving her a mutually agreed upon allowance to live on. We have two children of that marriage but they were both emancipated and off living their own lives when the breakup occurred.
For months and months I kidded myself that since our affairs appeared to be in decent order and since I wasn’t going to try to disenfranchise my soon to be ex of her share of either of my pensions that we should just handle the divorce on our own. We were in Colorado at the time and Colorado law allows ‘do it yourself’ divorces, in fact the state makes it pretty easy as far as the amount and complexity of the paperwork required.
Fortunately for my future financial well-being my then spouse decided, out of the blue, to hire a divorce attorney … a bit of a fire breather or as Lee describes a gladiator. The attorney was not interested in a quick outcome for her client and she was certainly fixated on the idea of making life very difficult for me. When I saw the language on the papers I was served I quickly realized that I had extended a delicate part of my body very close to a meat grinder and it would be very advantageous for me to pull back quickly, and get some protection. Mo more of this “let’s just divide our assets and be on our way” thinking.
There are a lot of pros and cons offered about lawyers advertising but I for one am very much in favor. I knew that by far the biggest asset I had was my two government pensions and I knew that the chances of an attorney picked at random being an expert in these matters … the valuation and division of government pensions … was slim to none. I found a little yellow pages ad for Bill Carew that mentioned he “spoke” CSRS, FERS and Military Pensions. A quick consultation in his office and I had hired myself a legal representative. After some months I found I had also saved myself a fortune, embarked on a life-long learning task and made myself a friend for life.
If you’re where I was years ago, if you are thinking about or already entered into the divorce process, let me give you the one piece of utterly sound advice a layman is qualified to give … you absolutely need an attorney, no matter how easy or straightforward you think your divorce is going to be. And if you are (or will become) a Federal or military retiree, you better not use *Uncle Fred’s attorney, unless that attorney can spell CSRS, FERS, TSP, Reserve Forces, High 3, Redux, etc. It’s just not as simple as you think. I’ve made many poor investments in my life and a few good ones. There’s no doubt in my mind that the best investment I made was hiring an attorney who knew the specific subject matter required to make a clean valuation and division of Federal pensions. Do yourself a favor and find an attorney and ask him or her key questions regarding your pensions, survivor alternatives, health insurance issues, etc. You’ll be so glad you did when the guns finally go silent.
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- Coke and Pepsi Have Nothing On These COLAs
- You Mean All I Needed Was A Box Of Cigars?
- Taxes During a Divorce
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