38 USC § 1973 - Forfeiture

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t38/s1973"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "38 USC § 1973 - Forfeiture"
title_number: 38
title_name: "VETERANS’ BENEFITS"
section_number: "1973"
section_name: "Forfeiture"
chapter_number: 19
chapter_name: "INSURANCE"
subchapter_number: "III"
subchapter_name: "SERVICEMEMBERS’ GROUP LIFE INSURANCE"
part_number: "II"
part_name: "GENERAL BENEFITS"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-21"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Added Pub. L. 89–214, § 1(a), Sept. 29, 1965, 79 Stat. 885, § 773; renumbered § 1973, Pub. L. 102–83, § 5(a), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 406; amended Pub. L. 104–275, title IV, § 405(b)(1)(F), Oct. 9, 1996, 110 Stat. 3339; Pub. L. 110–389, title IV, § 403(d), Oct. 10, 2008, 122 Stat. 4174.)"
---


# § 1973. Forfeiture

Any person guilty of mutiny, treason, spying, or desertion, or who, because of conscientious objections, refuses to perform service in the Armed Forces of the United States or refuses to wear the uniform of such force, shall forfeit all rights to Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance and Veterans’ Group Life Insurance under this subchapter. No such insurance shall be payable for death inflicted as a lawful punishment for crime or for military or naval offense, except when inflicted by an enemy of the United States.

---

**Source Credit**: (Added Pub. L. 89–214, § 1(a), Sept. 29, 1965, 79 Stat. 885, § 773; renumbered § 1973, Pub. L. 102–83, § 5(a), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 406; amended Pub. L. 104–275, title IV, § 405(b)(1)(F), Oct. 9, 1996, 110 Stat. 3339; Pub. L. 110–389, title IV, § 403(d), Oct. 10, 2008, 122 Stat. 4174.)

## Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2008— inserted “and Veterans’ Group Life Insurance” before “under this subchapter”.

1996— substituted “Servicemembers’ Group” for “Servicemen’s Group”.

1991— renumbered  as this section.

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 2008 Amendment

> “The amendment made by subsection (d) [amending this section] shall apply with respect to any act of mutiny, treason, spying, or desertion committed on or after the date of the enactment of this Act [
> 
> ] for which a person is found guilty, or with respect to refusal because of conscientious objections to perform service in, or to wear the uniform of, the Armed Forces on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.”

, , , provided that: