Appeal from the 224th District Court of Bexar County
The individuals were divorced. Throughout the twelve years of their marriage, the individual served in the United States Army until his eventual retirement. In the divorce decree, the trial court awarded the second individual an interest in the individual’s military retirement benefits if, as, and when received. The individual retired from the Army, after serving 26 years. Shortly before he retired, the individual filed in the trial court a Motion to Clarify and/or Modify Domestic Relations Order. The court denied the individual’s motion to clarify and/or modify, not finding the decree’s language ambiguous. The individual then filed a motion for new trial but was denied. The appellate court concluded the language was unambiguous. As the court read the decree, it ordered that the second individual’s interest in the individual’s military retirement benefits was six divided by the number of years the individual served in the Army, 26 years, plus one-half of the cost of living expense increases that might be awarded after the individual’s retirement- 6/26, or 23.08 percent, plus one-half of any cost of living expense increases. The court that rendered the divorce decree failed to limit the second individual’s interest in the military retirement benefits to a fraction of the community’s interest in those benefits, and instead awarded the second individual a fraction of the total amount to be paid to the individual. Further, pursuant to Shanks, 110 S.W.3d at 449; TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. Section 9.007(a) (West 2006), the court noted that because the divorce decree was unambiguous, the trial court had no authority to enter an order altering or modifying the original disposition of property. Thus, the trial court did not err in denying the individual’s motion to clarify and/or modify. The individual’s remedy for any substantive error of law in the divorce decree was by direct appeal, and he could not then attack the decree collaterally. Accordingly, the trial court's judgment was affirmed.