Matter of Marriage of Rogers

In this dissolution-of-marriage case, husband appeals from that portion of the trial court’s decree which awarded a portion of husband’s foreign service retirement benefits to wife, contending (1) that such distribution is prohibited by federal law and (2) that if the court could properly consider the retirement benefits as property it should be limited to the amount of husband’s contributions during the marriage.

The parties were married for 20 years, during which time the husband was employed by the Agency of International Development, an agency of the United States Department of State. The…