Judges Robbing Veterans to Pay Alimony

Judges Robbing Veterans to Pay Alimony
by John Waltz, Special Assignment Writer, Firebase Network

In an ongoing travesty of veterans being abused is happening in our halls of “justice”. Veterans who are considered 100% disabled should be afforded the right to forgo paying alimony considering they earned it with blood, sweat and tears. How does a former spouse deserve any of that money? Was she in the trenches with this proud soldier giving all they have to ensure our freedoms? There is a law to protect our veterans to stop this atrocity and is titled: U.S. Code, Title 38, §5301(a).

In essence this law does not allow veteran disability compensation to be used in part for any claim from a creditor, taxation, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or reasonable course of action.  Judges who follow the book of the law are familiar with this law but turn a blind eye to it. Much like our politicians who have their pockets lined by special groups, the judges are taking the same bribes. The lady of Justice and her scales are being evicted from the court and veterans are losing everything they have because of judges taking most of their pension to pay alimony payments…

These judges should have taken a quote from Theodore Roosevelt who stated, “A man good enough to shed his blood for his country, is good enough to receive a square deal afterwards.”  As stated earlier in this article, these benefits are earned by a veteran and should not be given to anyone else. In the Illinois Iroquois County Circuit Court in the matter of Ehler vs. Ehler court case number 97 D 73 the judge clearly ignored the code of law and ordered that his disability payment be used for alimony.  

Ron Ehler is a Vietnam Veteran who took many 30 caliber rounds and 2 grenades in a firefight and is now completely 100% disabled. Mr. Ehler was completely unaware of the law that protects our veterans and so was his attorney which left him powerless to defend himself. The judge wanted to hold him in contempt of court and jail him for not paying the amount of alimony that was ordered. He had a court date on October 12, 2006 but was unable to attend because of surgery from his service connected disability. The lawyer finally got the information he needed to defend his client at the hearing but the judge would not listen to it and instead delayed the court date until December. Through research his attorney discovered a case that should have set the precedent in Illinois which was Wojcik vs. Wojcik case no. 2-04-1076. In those findings the judge rightfully allowed Mr. Wojcik to not include his VA disability pension in determining his alimony. So, as we can see there are some real inconsistencies when it comes to deciding if a veteran’s disability is up for grabs or if they are going to follow the letter of the law.

A follow up letter was sent from Mr. Ehler’s attorney to Judge Schmidt trying to draw more light to the federal law and also to the case in which the veteran was allowed to not include his disability payments for alimony payments. The attorney sent back a letter to Mr. Ehlers stating, "My initial research finds that despite what federal law states, the trial court may properly treat a veterans' present and future disability benefits as income in determining your obligation to pay alimony or maintenance." Now even his attorney is intimidated by this judge so it goes to show how much power, greed and corruption is going on in our legal institutions.

It is sad to know that even your attorney can end up being your enemy but if you look at it in the right way, they are all in the same crooked club with judges. It is all about favors and bribes when it comes to our legal system. There no longer is any justice or compassion when it comes to court cases and it seems that the veterans are getting the brunt of it all. For a disabled veteran your compensation is all you have to live on and is rightfully yours. There is no reason that money should be given to anyone else for any reason. Different states and even counties are trying to interpret the law in their own way to suit them. What we need is a federal intervention that will enforce the federal law and make it all uniform whether you are in California or Maine.

In more current affairs our own Firebase member Gordon Sutton aka Firebase Black Horse is going to be defending himself for refusing to pay alimony in Kalamazoo Michigan on December 18, 2006 at 1030 AM. The hearing will be held at 1400 Gull Rd. Kalamazoo Michigan , if you use a direction finder on the internet it is fairly easy to find. If you are any where near Kalamazoo I ask you to attend this hearing and make sure that our veteran’s voices  will be heard and this injustice against our brave veterans is stopped. Gordon says "If I am going to jail I think I will bring my wheel chair." Veterans need to unite on this cause and stop judges from robbing them blind.