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CourtListener opinion 11229034
Citation: domestic relations order · Date unknown · US
- Extracted case name
- pending
- Extracted reporter citation
- domestic relations order
- Docket / number
- 13-24-00256-CV
Machine-draft headnote
Machine-draft public headnote: CourtListener opinion 11229034 is included in the LexyCorpus QDRO sample set as a public CourtListener opinion with relevance to QDRO procedure / domestic relations order issues. The current annotation is conservative: it identifies source provenance, relevance signals, and evidence quotes for attorney/agent retrieval. It is not a Willie-approved legal headnote yet.
Retrieval annotation
Draft retrieval summary: this opinion has QDRO relevance score 5/5, retirement-division score 5/5, and family-law score 5/5. Use the quoted text and full opinion below before relying on the case.
Category: QDRO procedure / domestic relations order issues
Evidence quotes
retirement benefits“n a divorce proceeding "in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction." Gillin v. Gillin, 307 S.W.3d 395, 397 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2009, no pet.). However, the trial court may only divide disposable retired pay, which "excludes disability pay, including retirement benefits that may be waived in order to collect disability benefits." Id. at 397–98. "A divorce court cannot apportion military retirement pay which has been waived to receive Veterans Administration disability benefits." Id. at 398. A trial court cannot expressly or impliedly prohibit a retired military member from electing to waive his retirement pay to recei”
domestic relations order“that the military member spouse can agree to reimburse the ex-spouse if he waives retirement pay to take disability. However, no Texas court has made this determination. See Freeman, 133 S.W.3d at 280; Gillin, 307 S.W.3d at 398 ("The first provision of the domestic relations order provides that any election of benefits that may be made by Kevin ‘shall' not reduce the amount of retired pay awarded to Lori, and specifically prohibits Kevin from waiving military retired pay in order to receive disability benefits. The trial court erred in restricting Kevin's right to elect disability."); Loria v. Loria, 189 S.W.3d 797, 799 (Tex. App”
valuation/division“t dispositive. See TEX. R. APP. P. 47.1. 6 III. IRREVOCABLE MSA By her first cross-issue, appellee contends that there was no meeting of the minds when the parties signed the MSA. A. Applicable Law Divorcing spouses may agree to the division of their community property by either executing a settlement agreement "which ‘may be revised or repudiated before rendition of the divorce,'" or they "may choose to execute a settlement agreement" pursuant to § 6.602 of the Texas Family Code that is binding on the parties as soon as it is executed, and each party is "entitled to judgment on the agreement notwithstanding Rule 11,”
Source and provenance
- Source type
- courtlistener_qdro_opinion_full_text
- Permissions posture
- public
- Generated status
- machine draft public v0
- Review status
- gold label pending
- Jurisdiction metadata
- US
- Deterministic extraction
- reporter: domestic relations order · docket: 13-24-00256-CV
- Generated at
- May 14, 2026
Related public corpus pages
Deterministic links based on shared title/citation terms and QDRO / retirement / family-law retrieval scores.
Clean opinion text
NUMBER 13-24-00256-CV
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG
IN THE MATTER OF THE MARRIAGE OF
AMY MORGAN AND PETER MORGAN
ON APPEAL FROM THE 360TH DISTRICT COURT
OF TARRANT COUNTY, TEXAS
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Chief Justice Tijerina and Justices Peña and West
Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Tijerina
Appellant/cross-appellee Peter Morgan (appellant) and appellee/cross-appellant
Amy Morgan (appellee) appeal a final divorce decree. By two issues, appellant contends
that the trial court improperly ordered him to reimburse appellee for the costs of electing
to receive disability payments, and alternatively, even assuming the trial court had
authority to divide disability retirement payments, "it could not do so in the absence of an
agreement to do so in the [Mediated Settlement Agreement (MSA)]." Appellee contends
that the MSA is not enforceable due to a lack of a meeting of the minds, and we must
remand the MSA to the trial court because it is ambiguous. We affirm as modified.1
I. BACKGROUND
On May 11, 2023, the parties signed an MSA agreeing, in pertinent part, that
appellee would receive "50% of the community portion of [appellant's] net disposable
retired pay." Appellant asked the trial court to enter the MSA as the final divorce decree.
Appellee argued the MSA was unenforceable because as written the MSA allowed
appellant to waive his retirement pay to receive disability pay.
At a hearing on October 20, 2023, appellee requested that the trial court include
language in the final divorce decree prohibiting appellant from waiving his military
retirement pay to receive military disability, which is not divisible in a divorce. On January
12, 2024, the hearing on the parties' motions to sign the final divorce decree continued.
Again, appellee argued that appellant could waive his retirement pay at any time and
therefore unilaterally determine how long appellee received retirement payments.
Appellee therefore again requested language in the final divorce decree stating that
appellant must reimburse her any amount she loses if appellant decided to waive his
retirement pay and collect military disability. Appellant opposed such language.
The trial court agreed with appellee and stated in the final divorce decree that the
parties agreed to divide appellant's military retirement and "stipulate and agree [that
appellant] shall not convert, buy civil service retirement or otherwise modify the terms or
payment structure of his military retirement pay in any manner that will negatively impact"
1 This appeal was transferred from the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth, Texas pursuant to
an order issued by the Texas Supreme Court. See TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 73.001.
2
appellee's payments, and if appellant did any act that reduced appellee's "share of
appellant's military retirement pay" by waiving his military pay for disability pay, appellant
"shall make [appellee] whole by paying [her] directly that amount that [her] monthly
payment is reduced by such action." This appeal followed.
II. DISABILITY PAYMENTS
By his first issue, appellant contends that the trial court improperly prohibited him
from converting his military retirement payments into disability payments and ordered that
he reimburse appellee "for the costs of electing to receive disability retirement payments."
Trial courts are permitted to divide military retired pay in a divorce proceeding "in
accordance with the law of the jurisdiction." Gillin v. Gillin, 307 S.W.3d 395, 397 (Tex.
App.—San Antonio 2009, no pet.). However, the trial court may only divide disposable
retired pay, which "excludes disability pay, including retirement benefits that may be
waived in order to collect disability benefits." Id. at 397–98. "A divorce court cannot
apportion military retirement pay which has been waived to receive Veterans
Administration disability benefits." Id. at 398. A trial court cannot expressly or impliedly
prohibit a retired military member from electing to waive his retirement pay to receive
Veteran's Affairs disability benefits in the future. Ex parte Burson, 615 S.W.2d 192, 196
(Tex. 1981); Gillin, 307 S.W.3d at 398.
In Freeman v. Freeman, the San Antonio court of appeals determined that the
divorce decree was erroneous because it limited the retired military member's right to
waive some of his retirement pay and elect to receive VA disability benefits. 133 S.W.3d
277, 280 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2003, no pet.). The court reasoned that "a Texas court
cannot expressly or impliedly prohibit a retired service member from unilaterally waiving
3
some or all of his disposable retired pay after divorce in exchange for VA disability
benefits." Id. (first citing Ex parte Burson, 615 S.W.2d at 196; and then citing Limbaugh
v. Limbaugh, 71 S.W.3d 1, 17 (Tex. App.—Waco 2002, no pet.)).
Here, the trial court prohibited appellant from converting or modifying the terms of
his retirement pay in a manner that would harm appellee, including waiving his retirement
pay in exchange for non-divisible disability payments. Thus, the final divorce decree is
erroneous because the trial court improperly prohibited appellant from unilaterally waiving
some or all his retirement pay to collect disability. See id. at 280; Gillin, 307 S.W.3d at
398 (providing that "[a] divorce decree cannot restrict a service member's future right to
waive retirement and elect disability Veteran's Administration benefits" and explaining that
the order was therefore erroneous because it "provides that any election of benefits that
may be made by [the retired military member] ‘shall' not reduce the amount of retired pay
awarded to [the ex-spouse], and specifically prohibits [the retired military member] from
waiving military retired pay in order to receive disability benefits").
Next, in Limbaugh, the trial court attempted to prevent the retired military member
"from unilaterally reducing his ‘disposable retired pay' in the future by waiving" his
retirement pay and electing to receive disability benefits by stating in the decree that if the
retired military member should reduce his retirement pay, he would be required to pay his
ex-spouse "the difference between the monthly payments she received at the time of the
decree and the payments as reduced because of [the retired military member's] post-
divorce election to receive additional VA disability benefits." Limbaugh, 71 S.W.3d at 17.
The Limbaugh court concluded that the trial court could not require the retired military
member to reimburse the payment amount to his ex-wife if he waived his retirement pay
4
and elected to receive disability pay because federal law properly gave the retired military
member the right to do so. Id.
Here, the trial court included similar language requiring appellant to reimburse
appellee if he modified his retirement pay by electing to receive non-divisible disability
benefits. This language limits appellant's right to waive his retirement pay to receive
disability and is therefore erroneous. See id.; see also Ghrist v. Ghrist, No. 03-05-00769-
CV, 2007 WL 1372690, at *3 (Tex. App.—Austin May 11, 2007, pet. denied) (mem. op.)
(determining that even though the parties agreed that the retired military member would
reimburse his ex-wife if he elected to waive his retirement pay and receive disability
benefits, the ex-wife was not entitled to reimbursement under federal law because she
sought to directly or indirectly obtain a portion of the retired military member's "VA
disability benefits, or to effectively prevent him from waiving his military retirement to
obtain such benefits"). Appellee argues that other state courts have already concluded
that the military member spouse can agree to reimburse the ex-spouse if he waives
retirement pay to take disability. However, no Texas court has made this determination.
See Freeman, 133 S.W.3d at 280; Gillin, 307 S.W.3d at 398 ("The first provision of the
domestic relations order provides that any election of benefits that may be made by Kevin
‘shall' not reduce the amount of retired pay awarded to Lori, and specifically prohibits
Kevin from waiving military retired pay in order to receive disability benefits. The trial court
erred in restricting Kevin's right to elect disability."); Loria v. Loria, 189 S.W.3d 797, 799
(Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2006, no pet.) (determining that divorce decree was
erroneous because it stated that the military spouse agreed "not to take any action by
merger so as to cause a limitation in the amount of the total disposable retired pay in
5
which member has a vested interest" which had "the impermissible effect of precluding
appellant from choosing, as is his right, to waive a portion of his retirement pay for
disability"); see also Ghrist, 2007 WL 1372690, at *3. Therefore, we decline to make such
a conclusion. See Loria, 189 S.W.3d at 799 ("The Texas Supreme Court has recognized
that a servicemember has the right, by federal law, to waive military retirement pay for
disability pay, even though this means that the servicemember can effectively unilaterally
modify a divorce decree insofar as it allocates income attributable to prior military service."
(citing Ex parte Burson, 615 S.W.2d at 195–96)).
We sustain appellant's first issue. 2 Accordingly, we modify the judgment by
omitting the following language:
The parties further stipulate and agree that the Respondent shall not
convert, buy civil service retirement or otherwise modify the terms or
payment structure of his military retirement pay in any manner that will
negatively impact the payment amounts to the Petitioner. Should the
Respondent do an act that has the effect of reducing the Petitioner's share
of the Respondent's military retirement pay received under Concurrent
Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP), Respondent shall indemnify and
reimburse Petitioner for any such losses and consequential damages.
See Limbaugh, 71 S.W.3d at 18 (ordering that the divorce decree be modified by deleting
the provision that required the husband to make direct payments to the wife if he waived
his Navy retirement payments in exchange for an increase in veterans' disability benefits);
Gillin, 307 S.W.3d at 398 (modifying the divorce decree by removing language that
prohibited the retired military spouse from waiving his retirement pay to receive disability).
2 Having sustained appellant's first issue, we need not address his second alternative issue as it
is not dispositive. See TEX. R. APP. P. 47.1.
6
III. IRREVOCABLE MSA
By her first cross-issue, appellee contends that there was no meeting of the minds
when the parties signed the MSA.
A. Applicable Law
Divorcing spouses may agree to the division of their community property by either
executing a settlement agreement "which ‘may be revised or repudiated before rendition
of the divorce,'" or they "may choose to execute a settlement agreement" pursuant to
§ 6.602 of the Texas Family Code that is binding on the parties as soon as it is executed,
and each party is "entitled to judgment on the agreement notwithstanding Rule 11, Texas
Rules of Civil Procedure, or another rule of law." Cayan v. Cayan, 38 S.W.3d 161, 165.
166 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, pet. denied); see In re Joyner, 196 S.W.3d
883, 890–91 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2006, pet. denied) (noting that "the parties elect to
make their agreement binding at the time of execution rather than at the time of rendering,
thus creating a procedural shortcut for the enforcement of those agreements"). The Texas
Family Code "does not authorize a court to modify an MSA, to resolve ambiguities or
otherwise, before incorporating it into a decree." Toler v. Sanders, 371 S.W.3d 477, 480
(Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2012, no pet.) (concluding that the trial court's
modifications to the MSA were reversable error where modifications "add terms,
significantly alter the original terms, or undermine the intent of the parties"). "A[n MSA]
under [§] 6.602 is ‘more binding than a basic written contract' because, except when a
party has procured the settlement through fraud or coercion, nothing either party does will
modify or void the agreement ‘once everyone has signed it.'" Id.
B. Discussion
7
The MSA in this case meets the requirements of § 6.602. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN.
§ 6.602. The record shows that there is a prominent notice on the last page of the
agreement in bold face underlined capital letters stating that the MSA is not subject to
revocation, and the agreement is signed by both parties and their attorneys.3 See id.
§ 6.602(b)(1)–(3). Because the agreement complied with § 6.602, appellee's unilateral
attempt to revoke the MSA was ineffective, and both §§ 6.602(b) and 6.602(c) required
the trial court to enter judgment on it despite appellee's attempted repudiation. See id.
§ 6.602(b), (c); Mullins, 202 S.W.3d at 876; Cayan, 38 S.W.3d at 165.
Moreover, the trial court did not allow the parties to present evidence regarding
whether there had been a meeting of the minds. See Wells v. Hoisager, 553 S.W.3d 515,
522 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2018, no pet.) ("Every contract requires a meeting of the minds,
so the ‘meeting' necessarily is a question of fact."). Whether a meeting of the minds
occurs is determined objectively by examining what the parties said and did rather than
measuring the parties' subjective state of mind. Id. ("[M]eeting of the minds is measured
by what the parties said and did and not on their subjective state of mind."); Wal-Mart
Stores, Inc. v. Lopez, 93 S.W.3d 548, 556 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2002, no pet.)
("The determination of a meeting of the minds, and thus offer and acceptance, is based
3 The MSA states:
THIS MEDIATED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IS NOT SUBJECT OT REVOCATION
PURSUANT TO TFC §6.601-6.602 TPRC §154.021-154.073.
THE PARTIES SHALL BE ENTITLED TO A JUDGMENT ON THE MEDIATED
SETTLEMEN AGREEMENT NOTWITHSTANDING RULE 11, TRCP OR ANY OTHER
RULE OF LAW.
EACH PARTY STIPULATED[] AND AGREES THAT THEY HAVE ENTERED
INTO THIS AGREEMENT FREELY AND VOLUNTARILY. THIS AGREEMENT IS NOT
SUBJECT TO REVOCATION AND IS ENFORCEABLE AS A CONTRACT.
8
on the objective standard of what the parties said and did—and not on their subjective
state of mind." (first citing Adams v. H & H Meat Prods., Inc., 41 S.W.3d 762, 771 (Tex.
App.—Corpus Christi–Edinburg 2001, no pet.); and then citing Angelou v. African
Overseas Union, 33 S.W.3d 269, 278 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, no pet.))).
The trial court must consider "the communications between the parties and the acts and
circumstances surrounding those communications." Id. (first citing Komet v. Graves, 40
S.W.3d 596, 601 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2001, no pet.) and then citing Angelou, 33
S.W.3d at 278). Accordingly, because the trial court did not hear evidence regarding a
meeting of the minds, we are unable to conclude that the judgment should be reversed
on that basis. See Wells, 553 S.W.3d at 522 ("Every contract requires a meeting of the
minds, so the ‘meeting' necessarily is a question of fact."). We overrule appellee's first
cross-issue.4
IV. AMBIGUITY
By her second cross-issue, appellee contends the MSA is ambiguous. Appellee
does not explain with citation to pertinent legal authority why the language in the MSA is
ambiguous, she does not state which language results in two reasonable interpretations,
and she does not state what those interpretations may be.5 See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.1(i).
4 We note that the Texas Supreme Court has disagreed with a lower court's determination that the
MSA should be set aside simply because there was not a meeting of the minds. Milner v. Milner, 361 S.W.3d
615, 623 (Tex. 2012); see also Matter of Marriage of Penafiel, 633 S.W.3d 36, 44 (Tex. App.—Houston
[14th Dist.] 2021, pet. denied) (explaining that an MSA may be set aside if it "is illegal in nature or procured
by fraud, duress, coercion, or other dishonest means.").
5 Appellee states: (1) "If the MSA is ambiguous, then the MSA should be set aside, and the case
remanded to the trial court; (2) "Trial court noted that grammar of the sentence is confusing to the court and
that might have a little bit of ambiguity"; and (3) "In this case, if the language used in the MSA gives rise to
two reasonable interpretations, then the MSA is ambiguous, and the case should be remanded to the trial
court and the parties could again attend mediation or proceed to trial." This is the extent of appellee's
argument. Appellee does not state which sentence the trial court referenced when it made this comment.
9
We overrule appellee's second cross-issue.
V. CONCLUSION
The trial court's judgment is affirmed as modified.
JAIME TIJERINA
Chief Justice
Delivered and filed on the
18th day of December, 2025.
Additionally, the trial court made a finding that the MSA is not ambiguous.
10