Entitlement to Reimbursement for Transportation and Temporary Lodging Allowance

An advance decision was requested as to whether the stepchildren of a captain qualify as his dependents for transportation and temporary lodging allowance purposes incident to his permanent change of station assignment. The record showed that the member was given a permanent change of station assignment and was authorized concurrent travel for his wife and two stepchildren. After arriving at his duty station, he filed a claim for reimbursement for the cost of transportation of the dependents and for temporary lodging allowances. The claim, as it relates to the stepchildren, was not allowed since doubt existed as to whether the children qualified as dependents. Pursuant to service regulations, in order for stepchidren to qualify as dependents, the member must show substantial support, which is defined as being no less than 30 percent of the total cost of support, regardless of the value of items which make up that total so long as they are reasonable. Support payments received from a natural parent are considered as income to be offset from the total support costs incurred for the purpose of determining dependency. In the instant case, the claimant did not meet or exceed the substantial dependency requirements of the regulations. By taking into account the amount of each child's independent support income, the member contributed less than 20 percent of the total cost of support for each child. The member's stepchildren did not qualify as his dependents. Accordingly, the voucher was not to be paid and was retained.