Summary:   Military retired pay is divided in a divorce case similar to other federal employee plans, such as civil service or FERS. However, the rules governing the court order are very different.

Dividing Military Retired Pay

State courts in a divorce case may divide what is called "Disposable Retired Pay."

Unless a military member is forced to retire because of disability, it takes a minimum of 20 years to qualify for Retired Pay.

There are 3 different formulas for determining Retired Pay. The most recent formula is:

Average monthly base pay for the last 3 years of service x No. of Years of Service x 2.5%, minus 1% for each year of service less than 30 years.

The formulas result in a Retired Pay between 40% abd 75% of base pay.

The former spouse who receives Retired Pay under a divorce court order cannot begin collecting the payments until the service member actually retires.

A former spouse who receives Retired Pay, may not assign it or allow it to be inherited. In other words, Retired Pay is another of the "if, as, when received" retirement assets. The former spouse will receive a portion of the Retired Pay annuity each month only when the retired service members received a monthly check.

The former spouse who is awarded a portion of the Retired Pay benefits (maximum of 50%) is designated as the "Designated Agent". The former spouse may not directly receive any such benefits unless he or she was married for at least 10 years during a 10 year period that the service member was in the military. However, a state court may award benefits as it sees fit. The restrictions are only on the amount of the direct payment to the Designated Agent.