Divorce involving military personnel and dependents is unique and challenging. You not only deal with standard divorce related issues such as child support and custody but there is also Survivor Benefits, whether or not you will be able to continue to access to government housing and military installations such as the commissary.
Add to that the division of military retired pay and it isn't any wonder to process is so confusing. The Uniformed Services Former Spouse's Protection Act (USFSPA) , a federal law that defines how states can handle the division of military retirement during divorce is often misunderstood on this particular subject.
I receive at least one email a week from a dependent spouse who believes that the USFSPA guarantees her/him a portion of their spouse's military retirement pay if they are married 10 years or more. Nothing could be further from the truth.
According to the USFSPA, "a court may treat disposable retired pay payable to a member for pay periods beginning after June 25, 1981, either as property solely of the member or as property of the member and his spouse in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction of such court."
In other words, military retirement is treated like any other property acquired DURING the marriage and is divided as such at the courts discretion. So, to clarify, there are no laws that grant a spouse any portion of military retired pay. Whether a spouse is awarded a portion of such pay is solely up to the judge who presides over the case during the divorce process.
Yes the law says a court may treat it as property HOWEVER all US courts treat it as property and will take up to half of the retirees retainer pay for the ex spouse. Then split the rest in spousal support and chid support leaving the retiree with nothing to show for 20 years of honorable service. The exspouse gets these awards for life I repeat FOR LIFE one of you have to die before the split stops. REMEMBER the USFSPA does not delineate any timeframe for a split of retainer pay, the ten years only refers to the exspouse as to when they can recieve paymens directly from DFAS nstead of the retiree paying her from his check. The money is still split even if you were married ONE DAY. This is a BAD law and should be reformed to give more protections to the veterans that put their lives on the line. Only laywers win with this law. They know they have a pot of money to charge their fees to the veteran. STOP bleeding our veteans dry write your congressman.
I am a twenty-year military retiree. The key is presenting your case and not having your lawyer do all the work. You know your case better than anyone, and if you don’t: blaming your attorney is a very poor reconciliation. Find out all you can and utilize “continuances” to extend the time until you have all the evidence or counter-proof you need. The law library at your local court house has a lot of information. I got all of my retired pay, by the way.