How is Military Retired Pay Divided During Divorce?

In military divorce, the Uniform Services Former Spouse's Protection Act (USFSPA) recognizes the right of state courts to distribute military retired pay to a spouse or ex - spouse and provides a method of enforcing these orders through the Department of Defense.

The USFSPA does not; however make division of military pay mandatory during divorce. An ex - spouse must have been awarded a portion of the member's military retired pay as property in their final divorce decree, dissolution, annulment or legal separation.

State laws can differ when it comes to the division of military retirement pay but the USFSPA gives each state the right to treat military retirement as "marital property." State courts are tasked with making an "equitable distribution" of the military member's retired pay but, that does not automatically mean a 50/50 distribution. Each state has factors that are applied to each individual case and division of marital property such as military retirement is based on...read more about dividing military retirement