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The government paid Freda Green $41,000 in 2003 when her 81-year-old husband died of an illness linked to his 34 years in the Air Force.
Green was nervous about cashing the check. Was it a mistake?
Military officials reassured her. The money was a benefit Uncle Sam paid the surviving spouses of veterans. It was hers forever.
<span style="font-style: italic">Forever ended Nov. 13 when the Brooksville woman got another letter. This one didn't come with a check. The government wanted the $41,000 back — with interest. Why?</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">Green remarried.</span>
Widows and widowers around the nation have discovered over the last year that they owe the Defense Department tens of thousands of dollars. The problem involves a quirk in federal law that was supposed to give surviving spouses more benefits, not less.
At the heart of it all is a seemingly absurd detail involving remarriage.
Green, 74, is confused.
"I took the money and paid my bills," she said. "I paid $6,000 in taxes on it. Now I've got to give it back? I don't understand it at all."
<span style="font-weight: bold">She isn't alone. Veteran advocates say they are hearing complaints from baffled spouses around the nation.</span>
"This is no way for the government to treat a military widow," said Lawrence Gorin, a lawyer in Oregon who advises military spouses.
