ARA ANNOUNCMENT
We are proud to continue our work as the American Retirees Association, a registered California non-profit organization originally known as American Retirees.org. To better align with our mission of advocating for fair and equitable divorce outcomes for veterans, we are now operating and promoting ourselves under the new name Veterans Alliance for Equitable Divorce. This is simply our “Doing Business As” name, and it does not change our legal status, structure, or dedication to supporting American retirees—especially those who've served our country. We're the same team, with an updated focus to serve you even better.
ARA (American Retirees Association), marks its 45th year of political activism as the oldest and only organization in the United States totally focused on reclaiming and securing our hard-earned military retirement benefits. Our presence in Washington, D.C. ensures that Congress continues to be made aware of inequities in Federal laws that seek to reduce those benefits. This year also marks the first year of our assimilation of the USA (Uniformed Services Association) giving us an even greater voice in Washington.
Larry White, President l2white@aol.com
Vic Wintriss, Founder sdvic@me.com
Mission Statement
The American Retirees Association (ARA) is a non profit organization, chartered expressly to deal with the impact of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act (USFSPA) (10 U.S.C. 1408 et seq.) on uniformed service personnel. The ARA was founded by Vic Wintriss:
ARA administrative headquarters is located in Redlands, California, where our financial, newsletter and literature publication and product sales, etc., matters are managed by our office staff.
What is the USFSPA?
USFSPA is the abbreviated name for the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act 10 U.S.C. sect 1408. The Act was included as a 'rider' to the 1983 Defense Appropriations Bill and was passed to overrule and effectively invalidate the United States Supreme Court's ruling in McCARTY v. McCARTY, 453 U.S. 210 (1981) that held that military retainer pay was the sole property of the retiree, and was not community property nor subject to division in divorce proceedings.
The USFSPA creates a legal fiction in calling the retainer pay “property” when in fact it is not! In fact, all Military Retainer Pay, including amounts awarded to a former spouse, are taxed by the IRS as income. Additionally, retirees are required to meet a number of conditions to continue to receive the pay; they are subject to recall to active duty and subject to court-martial. Spouses have no such conditions!
Although constitutional challenges to the USFSPA have not been successful, the Supreme Court has upheld the language of the statute on two occasions when state courts have tried to work around the statutory protections.
Most states have or are modifying their divorce protocols, specifically to no longer require lifetime payments to a former spouse. There are only seven states currently that have permanent alimony; most divorce settlement agreements include terms for review and modification as circumstances change or with some other significant event. USFSPA determinations do not!
ARA Membership
Our ARA Newsletter has been in production for over 30 years and is available to all ARA Members by download or direct mail. View an example cover page of the Newsletter here. Better yet, become an ARA Member, and receive the latest Fall 2024 edition (four editions a year). Please support our 40 year campaign to make the FSPA a fairer and more equitable Federal Law for all active, reserve and retired U.S military personnel. The cost of ARA membership remains $30 a year or $3 a month as it always has been over the years.
Please sign up for ARA Email News and Updates. You can unsubscribe at any time. Help support our continuing 40 plus years of fighting for the legal rights of all U.S military personnel Active, Reserve and Retired
A short note to our donors and supporters:
ARA has a long track record of maximizing the impact of your donations in support of divorced U.S. military personnel Active, Retired and Reserve. Our organization was founded by veterans in 1984 and is presently managed and funded by that small group of retired founders. That's why we're proud to operate with exceptionally low administrative expenses, ensuring that every dollar raised goes directly towards our mission.
Our operation is essentially self-funded with no board member fees, no reimbursed travel expenses, no salaries and no allowances. We rely totally on donations, both yours and ours, to keep the ship afloat for the sole purpose of covering ongoing printing and mailing costs, website expenses and communications costs. We’ve done that every year since ARA was founded and would be more than grateful if you could help us continue to serve by donating and becoming an ARA member. Please support us and help us grow. Thank you!
Please donate to American Retirees Association by hitting the Donate Button below. We sincerely welcome any amount you can manage to help keep our 40 year old non-profit running to support divorced service personnel in all branches of the U.S. military. Thank you for your kind donation. Please choose any custom amount you with to give in the box below.
Tax Exempt Corporation, ID: 1551226
Federal 501(c)19
Tax Exempt ID: 33-0246743