Military widow asked to repay $41,000 in benefits after remarriage, gov't garnishes her checks

[Amerigo Vespucci]

VIDEO @ the URL below.

Military widows asked to repay benefits after remarriage
By Rich Phillips, CNN
January 15, 2011 4:27 a.m. EST

Brooksville, Florida (CNN) -- Freda Green thought the battle was over when her husband returned from the Vietnam War.

But more than seven years after his death in 2003, she says the U.S. Defense Department is demanding she repay more than $41,000 in benefits the government shelled out as part of an insurance policy he paid into.

"They gave me 45 days to pay it back," said Green, 74, who claims the federal government began garnishing her benefit payments when she couldn't pay it all back at once.

Green says $577 is now being deducted from her military benefit check each month. The reason: She got remarried last year.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/15/florida.military.widow/index.html?hpt=C2