actions or otherwise) to award a share of retired pay.”). Further, the federal regulations implementing the 1990 Amendment confirm Congress’ intent to prohibit dividing military benefits that were not expressly treated in a pre-1981 divorce decree. See 32 C.F.R. § 63.6(c)(7) (1998) (“For court orders issued before June 26, 1981, subsequent amendments [to property division] after that date to provide for a division of retired pay as property are unenforceable under this part.”). Although McDougall may have had a right to part of Havlen’s military retirement pay before the 1990 Amendment, her failure to exercise this right at the time the Act specified has foreclosed her ability to partition Havlen’s retirement benefits now. Accord Delrie v. Harris, 962 F.Supp. 931, 935 (W.D.La.1997) (<HOLDING>). Because McDougall did not assert her right to
holding that a wife obtained a vested interest in her portion of the retirement benefits as of the date of the divorce decree and any act of the military spouse that unilaterally decreases the nonmilitary spouses vested interest is an impermissible modification of a division of marital property and a violation of the final decree of divorce holding that military retirement benefits are current pay and thus significantly different than other retirement benefits holding that although disability benefits cannot be included as part of the marital estate a court may consider the waiver of retirement pension benefits in favor of disability benefits in determining whether there has been a material change in circumstances which would justify modification of an alimony award to a former spouse who was previously awarded a fixed percentage of the retirement pension benefits holding that although a spouse may have had a right to apportion military retirement benefits at one time the act requires the spouse to assert that right before entry of a finalized divorce decree or waive the right to the benefits recognizing the right of a former spouse to seek contribution for payment of community debts not allocated by the divorce decree