Hattiesburg is home to Camp Shelby. As such, lawyers here in town often have the opportunity to represent military personnel or their spouses in a divorce. I have previously written about military divorce, but focused on the 20-20-20 Rule. Now I’d like to look more broadly at military retirement benefits in a divorce.
A federal law, the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act, permits states to consider military retirement as marital property, and, indeed, Mississippi does so. The USFSPA allows a state court to have jurisdiction over the retirement benefits only if the servicemember is domiciled or resides there, or consents to the jurisdiction.
It is important to note that even if retirement benefits are awarded to a spouse, that spouse may not be directly paid by the military unless the couple was married for at least ten years of the member’s service. Even then, there is a cap on the benefit that can be received—50% for one spouse, and 65% for all former spouses.
On the other hand, if the couple was married for less than ten years of the member’s term of service, then payment of the benefit must come from the member spouse. While this can lead to more “uncertainty” regarding the payment, there is an upside to this. The 50% cap that is imposed through direct payment does not apply to payments received from the member spouse.
There are other benefits to consider as well, including disability benefits and survivor benefits. Those are topics for another day.
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