Question:
Hi, my ex husband draws a very large check from the VA. Part of it is for retirement and the other is disability. They are only allowed to take from one of them for child support, I just can't remember which, so only about half of my child support comes from that and he usually (not always) pays the other part himself. He was recently incarcerated and sentenced to a year in jail. I'm very worried about child support. He says not to file an apportionment because he doesn't think the VA will find out he's in jail and he's making sure his mom is paying my other half of the child support so I don't file. He also told me it could take months to go through and then I would be without any payment for months. So if I do file for an apportionment while he is in jail, how long does it usually take to get approved and start receiving it? Thank you very much.
Jim's Reply:
If you or your ex haven't been notified of any changes to his benefit payments, I'd urge you to not bother with filing any papers. It's almost always a mistake to try to predict what VA may do and then get out ahead of them by filing some sort of paper. In any case, different terms of incarceration may or may not affect VA disability benefits...let this sleeping dog lie