38 U.S.C. § 5307
Section 5307 · Apportionment of benefits
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case William H. Wanless, Jr. v. Anthony J. Principi (2004)
Most recently applied in Batcher v. Wilkie (September 2020)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) All or any part of the compensation, pension, or emergency officers’ retirement pay payable on account of any veteran may—
(1) if the veteran is being furnished hospital treatment, institutional, or domiciliary care by the United States, or any political subdivision thereof, be apportioned on behalf of the veteran's spouse, children, or dependent parents; and
(2) if the veteran is not living with the veteran's spouse, or if the veteran's children are not in the custody of the veteran, be apportioned as may be prescribed by the Secretary.
(b) Where any of the children of a deceased veteran are not in the custody of the veteran's surviving spouse, the pension, compensation, or dependency and indemnity compensation otherwise payable to the surviving spouse may be apportioned as prescribed by the Secretary.
(c) If a veteran is not living with the veteran's spouse, or if any of the veteran's children are not in the custody of the veteran, any subsistence allowance payable to the veteran under chapter 31 of this title or that portion of the educational assistance allowance payable on account of dependents under chapter 34 of this title may be apportioned as may be prescribed by the Secretary.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1991—Pub. L. 102–40 renumbered section 3107 of this title as this section.
Subsecs. (a)(2), (b), (c). Pub. L. 102–83 substituted “Secretary” for “Administrator”.
1983—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 98–160, §703(2)(A), substituted “the veteran's spouse” for “his wife”.
Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 98–160, §703(2)(A)–(C), substituted “the veteran's spouse” for “his wife”, “the veteran's children” for “his children”, and “the custody of the veteran” for “his custody”.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–160, §703(2)(D), substituted “surviving spouse” for “widow” in two places.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98–160, §703(2)(A)–(C), (E), substituted “the veteran's spouse” for “his wife”, “the veteran's children” for “his children”, “the custody of the veteran” for “his custody”, and “payable to the veteran” for “payable to him”.
1972—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 92–540 inserted provisions relating to that portion of the educational assistance allowance payable on account of dependents under chapter 34 of this title.
Effective Date of 1972 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 92–540 effective 90 days after Oct. 24, 1972, see section 601(b) of Pub. L. 92–540, set out as a note under section 4101 of this title.