RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
         AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS

IN THE MATTER OF:      DOCKET NUMBER:  BC-2007-00884
            INDEX CODE:  137.00

            COUNSEL:  NONE

            HEARING DESIRED: NO

_________________________________________________________________

APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT:

Her now deceased former spouse’s military records be corrected to show
he elected former spouse Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) coverage  on  her
behalf.

_________________________________________________________________

APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT:

She had been receiving funds as a former spouse until his death on  20
October 2006.  There has been a court order in place since May 1988 to
prevent this from happening.  She  is  a  paraplegic  at  age  73  and
confined to a wheel chair and her house.  She has become dependent  on
the funds she had been receiving and now does not have enough money to
live on.

In support of her appeal, the applicant has provided copies  of  their
divorce decree, his death certificate, and  the  SBP  form  they  both
signed in 1988.

Applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A.

_________________________________________________________________

STATEMENT OF FACTS:

The now deceased member and the applicant were married on 26 May  1973
and he elected child only coverage based on a reduced level of retired
pay prior to his 1 January 1980 retirement.  The parties  divorced  on
11 May 1988 and the court found that should the member be eligible  to
participate in the SBP on the applicant’s behalf, that he do  so.   He
attempted to elect former spouse coverage on 13 December 1988 but  his
request was not valid.  The law at the time of the member’s retirement
did not require that the spouse concur in the election and he did  not
elect SBP coverage on her behalf at  that  time.   Further,  the  laws
controlling SBP preclude a married member who declined spouse coverage
at the time of retirement from providing SBP  former  spouse  coverage
following divorce  unless  Congress  authorized  an  open  enrollment.
Retirees were permitted to elect former spouse coverage during the one-
year open enrollment periods authorized by Public Laws (PLs)  101-189,
and 105-261 (1 April 1992 –  31 March  1993  and  1 March  1999  –  29
February  2000,  respectively).   The  enrollment  packages   advising
retirees of the opportunity to make an election or  change  their  SBP
coverage, as well as the necessary forms, were included  in  both  the
February 1992 and the January 1999 editions of  the  Afterburner,  New
for USAF Retired Personnel.  These issues and others published  during
those periods were sent to  the  correspondence  address  members  had
provided the finance  center  and  contained  points  of  contact  for
retirees to use to gain additional information.

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AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

AFPC/DPPRT  recommends  denial.   DPPRT  states  the  member  had  two
opportunities to elect former spouse SBP coverage on  the  applicant’s
behalf during both the 92-93 and the 99-00  open  enrollment  periods,
but he did not.  As there  is  no  evidence  of  Air  Force  error  or
injustice in this case DPPRT recommends her request be denied.

DPPRT’s complete evaluation is at Exhibit B.

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APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

The applicant contends she now believes her former  spouse  had  named
her as beneficiary, and, at a later  date  was  able  to  reverse  his
decision as she was not required to be notified of  his  actions.   In
regards to open seasons, she asks that the Board  remember  that  they
were divorced and that her former spouse could have cared less if  she
had any benefits from him or not.  She and he had both signed the  Air
Force form 1581 (Election Statement for Former Spouse Coverage) and it
was  submitted  within  one  year  of  their  divorce.   She   thought
everything was as it should be.  She was able to work full time  until
2003 and has been lucky to remain in her home since  1976.   With  the
loss of income, she can only imagine what the future holds for her  in
her current condition.

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THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT:

1.  The applicant has exhausted all remedies provided by existing  law
or regulations.

2.  The application was timely filed.

3.  Insufficient relevant evidence has been presented  to  demonstrate
the existence of error or injustice.  After a thorough review  of  the
evidence of record and applicant’s submission, we  are  not  persuaded
that the decedent’s records should be changed to make the applicant an
eligible former spouse SBP beneficiary.  The law precludes any attempt
to establish former spouse  coverage  when  spouse  coverage  was  not
elected at the time of retirement – outside an open season  authorized
by Congress.  In this light, we note that after  the  initial  invalid
election attempt, the decedent had opportunities during two subsequent
open seasons prior to his death to make a valid former spouse election
as required by court order.  Neither open season was  taken  advantage
of.  Therefore, we agree with the opinion and  recommendation  of  the
Air Force office of primary responsibility and adopt its rationale  as
the basis for our conclusion that  the  applicant  has  not  been  the
victim of an error or injustice, and in the absence of evidence to the
contrary, we find no compelling basis to recommend granting the relief
sought in this application.

_________________________________________________________________

THE BOARD DETERMINES THAT:

The  applicant  be  notified  that  the  evidence  presented  did  not
demonstrate the existence of material error  or  injustice;  that  the
application was denied without a personal  appearance;  and  that  the
application will only be reconsidered upon  the  submission  of  newly
discovered relevant evidence not considered with this application.

_________________________________________________________________

The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket Number BC-
2007-00884 in Executive  Session  on  26  September  2007,  under  the
provisions of AFI 36-2603:

      Ms. Kathleen Graham, Panel Chair
      Ms. Janet I. Hassan, Member
      Ms. Patricia R. Collins, Member

The following documentary evidence was considered:

    Exhibit A.  DD Form 149, dated 15 Mar 07, w/atchs.
    Exhibit B.  Letter, AFPC/DPPRT, dated 26 Apr 07.
    Exhibit C.  Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 4 May 07.




                                   KATHLEEN F. GRAHAM
                                   Panel Chair