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Claim by Beneficiary for Unpaid Retired or Retainer Pay of Military Member

B-174048 Dec 28, 1978
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Highlights

A Navy member, transferred to reserve status in 1960 on retainer pay, disappeared in December, 1966. Based on the member's unexplained absence for a period of over 7 years, a State court issued an order that the member died in June 1975. A claim for the unpaid retired or retainer pay was filed by the member's son; the claim was disallowed and later appealed. Retired pay accrues only during the lifetime of the retired member, not subsequent to the member's death, when the actual date of death is unknown. A judicial decree, stating that a person is presumed to have died on a designated date, does not establish that the person concerned lived for a fixed period or did not die immediately after his unexplained absence. Since the United States was not a party to the proceeding on presumption of death, the United States is not bound by such a decree. In the absence of further proof that the member was alive after the date of his disappearance, GAO found that the claim is too doubtful to allow, and the disallowance is sustained.

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