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My father was a retired Navy Commander. He died in Feb. of this year. We discovered that because he moved he did not receive his retirement benefits for 5 years. About how much money are we talking about? My mother passed away in '06, so the payment may be higher.
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: North Carolina Already Tried: No where else.
Thanks for the chance to help. I am an attorney with over 12 years military law experience.I am not sure I understand your question...what do you mean byWe discovered that because he moved he did not receive his retirement benefits for 5 years. What does that mean? What happened?
I'm just curious.
My younger sister is the executrix of my Father's estate. She has been in touch with a woman at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service who says his benefits will be sent to us 3 daughters in 4 to 6 weeks. Since Daddy moved, he did not forward his new address to the Navy, he was not paid for the 5 years. I want to know about how much money was due him since he did not receive his retirement pay. I also mentioned that my Mother passed away in '06. My younger sister has not shared much of this information and I just want to know how much money is involved.
My Father served over 20 years, died at 90 yrs. old. It was only discovered after he died that he had not received his retirement pay.
If you need more information, please let me know.
Thank you!
Nancy
He is due all his retirement he was not paid...if he rated retirement pay and was not paid, then DFAS (Defense Finance and Accounting Service) must pay the estate.The real question then becomes what (how much) does he rate? You will not find anyone outside of DFAS that can tell you that...since it will depend on many different factors.But IF he was retired and rated pay and did not receive that pay, DFAS will pay his estate the money owed.How to resolve this? You really need to track down is most recent pay stub (DFAS can provide this to the executrix if you can not find in his possessions) and calculate from there.If DFAS will not work with the executrix, you may need to get the court involved...the court will have subpoena power so can demand DFAS release documents.After you determine that he did rate pay, and was not paid, then you can go to DFAS and demand they pay.If they refuse, you can sue to force...but I doubt this will be an issue...if you can show DFAS he rated but did not receive pay, DFAS will cut a check.
You did not answer my question.
We do know for a fact that my 2 sisters and I are receiving his back pay. I want to know, how much that back pay is? You didn't answer that for me.
I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait the 4 to 6 weeks for my check.
As I told you there is not any way for me or ANYONE outside DFAS to answer that question...only DFAS can tell you...you may want to ask DFAS.
Will they tell me how much it is eventhough I'm not the executrix?
No, not likely, since you have no standing...you have no legal right to demand the information.But you can calculate this info...if you know what his last check was and when he died, you can "do the math" to calculate...so if you know, for example, that be rated $2000/mo and this was 60 months ago, you can see about what they owe.
I'm not close, personal and distance wise, to this sister. I have no way of knowing what his pay was. Would $2,000 be a good extimate?
Tell me, was he retired from active duty? And seriously he did not get paid for 5 years while he was alive? He did not question this witih DFAS?
Daddy was in the reserves since about 1950's for the Marines as a physican for the 5th Truck unit out of Charlotte .He retired from the Navy around 1972 and was awarded the Commander rank. Daddy worked as a civilian on military bases as a radiologist for at least 15 years. Daddy stopped working at Ft. Knox Hospital in 2005. He started to develop some dementia, so that's the reason the military pay was forgotten about.
I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to respond but I'm having to contact my other sister to help with this information. I want to have the correct facts.
No worries...ok, that helps. Tell me, how old was he when he died?
Daddy died this February at the age of 90.
ThanksI asked age since he would start to rate pay when he turned 60...that was a few years back...so its clear that he did rate pay for the entire period.The question on how much pay he rates is a bit complex...its complex since it depends on several different factors. For active duty its easy...you get (or he would have gotten) 1/2 of of his pay at the time of his retirement.But reserve pay is different...it can be near 1/2 base pay IF he served the vast majority of his time active duty...but if he served only in the reserves, it will be MUCH less.I used $2K/mo as an example....but that was based on an assumption he was active duty. If he was a reserve officer, I suspect it will be much lower. I would say $1000/mo to $1500/mo is a better guess...again, based on the amount of active duty time (if any) he had during his career. The more active duty, the higher the pay each month.If you can find ANY of his prior pay stubs that will give a VERY good approx of pay per month...there has been a COLA (Cost Of Living Allowance) each year...a percent or so, so this would be a factor as well.But if you want a good ballpark figure, $1000/mo is a decent start.
Experience: Retired Marine Corps Lawyer, Veterans Services Officer (VSO)
Thank you so much.