On behalf of his client, Patrick Hughes filed a lawsuit against the Army in the Court of Federal Claims. The client was being unjustly denied the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) after her former husband was killed in action in Iraq. Despite a state court order stating that the SBP should be awarded to the client during their divorce proceedings, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) made an erroneous decision not to honor the court order. Their reasoning was that the service member died on active duty before the order was issued. Despite appealing through the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) and the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR), all attempts to reverse the DFAS' decision were denied. Frustrated by these denials, Attorney Hughes took the case to federal court, suing the Army. Eventually, the Court recognized that the Army's decision to deny the client the SBP was in violation of the law and overturned their ruling. As a result, the client is now expected to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars from the SBP over her lifetime. This financial support will greatly assist her and her three children, who tragically lost their father in combat.