The intersection of military retirement benefits and marital dissolution presents a complex legal landscape, particularly when the marriage duration falls short of ten years. This circumstance influences how a former spouse may receive a portion of the service member’s retirement pay. Generally, direct payments from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) to the former spouse are only authorized when the marriage overlapped with at least ten years of creditable military service. As an example, consider a scenario where a service member divorces after nine years of marriage, all coinciding with active duty service. In this case, direct payment of a share of retirement benefits from DFAS to the former spouse would not be automatic.
The importance of this ten-year threshold lies in its impact on the legal mechanism available for distributing military retirement assets. The Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (USFSPA) allows state courts to treat military retirement pay as marital property subject to division in a divorce. However, the “10/10 rule,” derived from the USFSPA, governs DFAS’s ability to directly disburse payments. Prior to this Act, military retirement pay was not generally divisible. The legal precedent and subsequent legislation have provided a framework for equitable distribution, yet the ten-year marker serves as a critical dividing line in accessing direct payment options.
