Howell v. Howell
Decided May 15, 2017. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 15-1031 · 581 U.S. 214 (2017) · Cited 95 times
Holding
A state court may not order a veteran to indemnify a divorced spouse for the loss in the divorced spouse’s portion of the veteran’s retirement pay caused by the veteran’s waiver of retirement pay to receive service-related disability benefits.
The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.
How the Justices voted
Decided 8–0.
Majority · 7
- Stephen Gerald Breyer · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy
- Elena Kagan
- John Glover Roberts Jr.
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Samuel A. Alito Jr.
- Sonia Sotomayor
Concurring · 1
- Clarence Thomas · filed a concurring opinion
“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.
Precedents cited
Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.
- Mansell v. Mansell · 490 U.S. 581 (1989)
- McCarty v. McCarty · 453 U.S. 210 (1981)
- United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
- Wyeth v. Levine · 555 U.S. 555 (2009)
- Rose v. Rose · 481 U.S. 619 (1987)
Explore from here
Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2017). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).