PROTECTIONS FOR DEPENDENT VICTIMS OF ABUSE BY MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

SEC. 653. PROTECTIONS FOR DEPENDENT VICTIMS OF ABUSE BY MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES. (a) Payments Under Court Orders.—Section 1408 of title 10, United States Code, is amended— (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (i); and (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the following new subsection (h): “(h) Benefits for Dependents Who Are Victims of Abuse by Members Losing Right to Retired Pay.—(1) If, in the case of a member or former member of the armed forces referred to in paragraph (2)(A), a court order provides (in the manner applicable to a division of property) for the payment of an amount from the disposable retired pay of that member or former member (as certified under paragraph (4)) to an eligible spouse or former spouse of that member or former member, the Secretary concerned, beginning upon effective service of such court order, shall pay that amount in accordance with this subsection to such spouse or former spouse. “(2) A spouse or former spouse of a member or former member of the armed forces is eligible to receive payment under this subsection if— “(A) the member or former member, while a member of the armed forces and after becoming eligible to be retired from the armed forces on the basis of years of service, has eligibility to receive retired pay terminated as a result of mis-106 STAT. 2427conduct while a member involving abuse of a spouse or dependent child (as defined in regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense); and “(B) the spouse or former spouse— “(i) was the victim of the abuse and was married to the member or former member at the time of that abuse; or “(ii) is a natural or adopted parent of a dependent child of the member or former member who was the victim of the abuse. “(3) The amount certified by the Secretary concerned under paragraph (4) with respect to a member or former member of the armed forces referred to in paragraph (2)(A) shall be deemed to be the disposable retired pay of that member or former member for the purposes of this subsection. “(4) Upon the request of a court or an eligible spouse or former spouse of a member or former member of the armed forces referred to in paragraph (2)(A) in connection with a civil action for the issuance of a court order in the case of that member or former member, the Secretary concerned shall determine and certify the amount of the monthly retired pay that the member or former member would have been entitled to receive as of the date of the certification— “(A) if the member or former member’s eligibility for retired pay had not been terminated as described in paragraph (2)(A); and “(B) if, in the case of a member or former member not in receipt of retired pay immediately before that termination of eligibility for retired pay, the member or former member had retired on the effective date of that termination eligibility. “(5) A court order under this subsection may provide that whenever retired pay is increased under section 1401a of this title (or any other provision of law), the amount payable under the court order to me spouse or former spouse of a member or former member described in paragraph (2)(A) shall be increased at the same time by the percent by which the retired pay of the member or former member would have been increased if the member or former member were receiving retired pay. “(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a member or former member of the armed forces referred to in paragraph (2)(A) shall have no ownership interest in, or claim against, any amount payable under this section to a spouse or former spouse of the member or former member. “(7)(A) If a former spouse receiving payments under this subsection with respect to a member or former member referred to in paragraph (2)(A) marries again after such payments begin, the eligibility of the former spouse to receive further payments under this subsection shall terminate on the date of such marriage. “(B) A person’s eligibility to receive payments under this subsection that is terminated under subparagraph (A) by reason of remarriage shall be resumed in the event of the termination of that marriage by the death of that person’s spouse or by annulment or divorce. The resumption of payments shall begin as of the first day of the month in which that marriage is so terminated. The monthly amount of the payments shall be the amount that would have been paid if the continuity of the payments had not been interrupted by the marriage. 106 STAT. 2428 “(8) Payments in accordance with this subsection shall be made out of funds in the Department of Defense Military Retirement Fund established by section 1461 of this title. “(9)(A) A spouse or former spouse of a member or former member of the armed forces referred to in paragraph (2)(A), while receiving payments in accordance with this subsection, shall be entitled to receive medical and dental care, to use commissary and exchange stores, and to receive any other benefit that a spouse or a former spouse of a retired member of the armed forces is entitled to receive on the basis of being a spouse or former spouse, as the case may be, of a retired member of the armed forces in the same manner as if the member or former member referred to in paragraph (2)(A) was entitled to retired pay. “(B) A dependent child of a member or former member referred to in paragraph (2)(A) who was a member of the household of the member or former member at the time of the misconduct described in paragraph (2)(A) shall be entitled to receive medical and dental care, to use commissary and exchange stores, and to have other benefits provided to dependents of retired members of the armed forces in the same manner as if the member or former member referred to in paragraph (2)(A) was entitled to retired pay. “(C) If a spouse or former spouse or a dependent child eligible or entitled to receive a particular benefit under this paragraph is eligible or entitled to receive that benefit under another provision of law, the eligibility or entitlement of that spouse or former spouse or dependent child to such benefit shall be determined under such other provision of law instead of this paragraph. “(10) In this subsection, the term ‘dependent child’, with respect to a member or former member of the armed forces referred to in paragraph (2)(A), means an unmarried legitimate child, including an adopted child or a stepchild of the member or former member, who— “(A) is under 18 years of age; “(B) is incapable of self-support because of a mental or physical incapacity that existed before becoming 18 years of age and is dependent on the member or former member for over one-half of the child’s support; or “(C) if enrolled in a full-time course of study in an institution of higher education recognized by the Secretary of Defense for the purposes of this subparagraph, is under 23 years of age and is dependent on the member or former member for over one-half of the child’s support.”. (b) Conforming Amendments.—Chapter 74 of such title is amended— (1) in section 1461(b)— (A) by striking out “and” at the end of paragraph (1); (B) by striking out the period at the end of paragraph (2) and inserting in lieu thereof “; and”; and (C) by adding at the end the following: “(3) the authority provided in section 1408(h) of this title.”; and (2) in section 1463— (A) by striking out “and” at the end of paragraph (3); 106 STAT. 2429 (B) by striking out the period at the end of paragraph (4) and inserting in lieu thereof “; and”; and (C) by adding at the end the following: “(5) amounts payable under section 1408(h) of this title.”. (c) Prospective Applicability.—No payments under subsection (h) of section 1408 of title 10, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), shall accrue for periods before the date of the enactment of this Act. (d) Report on Other Actions.—(1) Not later than December 15, 1993, the Secretary of Defense shall transmit to the Congress a report on the actions taken and planned to be taken in the Department of Defense to reduce or eliminate disincentives for a dependent of a member of the Armed Forces abused by the member to report the abuse to appropriate authorities. (2) The actions considered by the Secretary should include the provision of treatment, child care services, health care services, job training, job placement services, and transitional financial assistance for dependents of members of the Armed Forces referred to in paragraph (1). (e) Study Required.—(1) The Secretary of Defense shall conduct a study in order to estimate— (A) the number of persons who will become eligible to receive payments under subsection (h) of section 1408 of title 10, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), during each of fiscal years 1993 through 2000; and (B) for each of fiscal years 1993 through 2000, the number of members of the Armed Forces who, after having completed at least one, and less than 20, years of service in that fiscal year, will be approved in that fiscal year for separation from the Armed Forces as a result of having abused a spouse or dependent child. (2) The study shall include a thorough analysis of— (A) the effects, if any, of appeals and requests for clemency in the case of court-martial convictions on the entitlement to payments in accordance with subsection (h) of section 1408 of title 10, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)); (B) the socioeconomic effects on the dependents of members of the Armed Forces described in subsection (h)(2) of such section that result from terminations of the eligibility of such members to receive retired or retainer pay; and (C) the effects of separations of such members from the Armed Forces on the mission readiness of the units of assignment of such members when separated and on the Armed Forces in general. (3) Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the results of the study.