Posted on Jun 6, 2016
Is an ex-spouse automatically entitled to a percentage of your retirement pay in the event of a divorce?
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Does the military automatically grant a percentage of retirement pay to the ex-spouse, or is that strictly a decision of the court in the divorce decree?
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 93
It depends how long you were married while in service. If she was there for the majority of it (not sure the exact figure) then unfortunately yes, but if it was a couple years, then no.
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Has to be decided by a judge. Make sure you have a great lawyer that will fight for your best interests.
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if you were married for at least half of his military carreer, you are entitled to half of his retirement
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No. Your ex must produce a judge's order to obtain access to any if your reretirement pay. What she is entitled to, if anything, is dependent upon the state the divorce is filed. DFAS has a department that handles these situations.
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We had an agreement with both attorneys concerning pension distribution and spousal support but the judge overruled that agreement and set what he thought was fair. What he thought was equitable was a lot different than what we had agreed on. He included spousal support until she was eligible for Social Security. Cost me a lot over the past twenty years. I think judges have too much power to over ride agreements between the parties involved.
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For my divorce which took just under two years to complete as she went back to Korea, I will owe her a portion of my retirement based the rank that I am now ( Staff Sergeant). This was in Texas but different states vary I know.
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Automatically? No. Only if you've been married 10 years or longer and the spouse petitions for it. FYI: same for any federal pension and social security benefits.
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one thing to consider is that if you do NOT have any type of agreement regarding Military pay and allowances, is that a spouse or ex-spouse can receive one-half until such time as an legal agreement is put in place.
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