In Re Marriage of Lockstrom

The 27-year marriage of plaintiff Donald Lockstrom (for convenience and clarity, Donald), a retired Air Force officer, to defendant Jean Lockstrom (for similar reasons, Jean) was dissolved, December 1, 1981, by an interlocutory judgment. They had been married throughout his active military career. Relying upon the authority of McCarty v. McCarty (1981) 453 U.S. 210 [ 69 L.Ed.2d 589 , 101 S.Ct. 2728 ], passim, the superior court had adjudged Donald’s military pension to be his separate property. Jean has appealed from the interlocutory judgment.

Pending the appeal, Congress enacted (effective Feb. 1, 1983) the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act, title 10 of the United States Code section 1408, hereafter the Act. “The [Act] overrules McCarty , stating ‘a court may treat disposable retired or retainer pay payable to a [retired military] member for pay periods beginning after June 25, 1981, either as property solely of the member or as property of the member and his spouse in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction of such court.’ . . . California law treating military retirement pensions as community property is no longer preempted. The act’s legislative…