Military retirement divorce

[learn70]

What is the name of your state GA(only U.S. law)?
The entire marriage was equally both worked. We basically shared all responsibilities with the two boy's. One is currently in college and one is fifteen. What is this no fault rule according to states determining the retirement as community property?We were married for 12 twelve years of my twenty years in the military. We have been married for 16 years. Our divorce is mutual. I am currently receiving 50 percent VA disability including my retirement. What is the situation on how my spouse can receive half of my retirement if a disagree on partitioning?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[mistoffolees]

What is the name of your state GA(only U.S. law)?
The entire marriage was equally both worked. We basically shared all responsibilities with the two boy's. One is currently in college and one is fifteen. What is this no fault rule according to states determining the retirement as community property?We were married for 12 twelve years of my twenty years in the military. We have been married for 16 years. Our divorce is mutual. I am currently receiving 50 percent VA disability including my retirement. What is the situation on how my spouse can receive half of my retirement if a disagree on partitioning?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Your spouse should not receive 1/2 of your retirement. Rather, she should receive 1/2 of the marital portion. I don't know if they simply give her 60% (12 years out of 20) of 1/2 or if it is adjusted by time (arguably, the earlier years might be worth more since there has been more time for the contributions from those years to have added up). Your attorney should be able to help you. If not, ask your JAG for assistance (at least getting you to someone who can help).

 

[IrishLady47]

If you both worked, both your military retirement and any retirement accounts she has are marital assets (or the portion accrued during the marriage is) and subject to division--not just your military retirement. It is not required to split each asset in half, but the total marital assets (and debts) should be split equally.

Your VA compensation is not subject to property division, but is considered income.

 

[IrishLady47]

Your spouse should not receive 1/2 of your retirement. Rather, she should receive 1/2 of the marital portion. I don't know if they simply give her 60% (12 years out of 20) of 1/2 or if it is adjusted by time (arguably, the earlier years might be worth more since there has been more time for the contributions from those years to have added up). Your attorney should be able to help you. If not, ask your JAG for assistance (at least getting you to someone who can help).

There are no monetary contributions to a military retirement, just the years of service. Which is why is bothers military retirees to split it, understandably in my opinion. But the law is the law and it is subject to division as marital property.

OP - make sure you obtain the services of an attorney who understands about military retirement--many do not have a clue.

 

[mistoffolees]

There are no monetary contributions to a military retirement, just the years of service. Which is why is bothers military retirees to split it, understandably in my opinion. But the law is the law and it is subject to division as marital property.

It's no different than any other defined benefit plan. Although there are no monetary contributions, the contributions are earned over time - just as any other defined benefit contributions are earned over time. Essentially, money is accumulating in a virtual account - even though there's no money actually there. In business, you're required to actually put the value on the books as a liability, so it's disingenuous to imply that since no many changes hands that it doesn't have value.

 

[IrishLady47]

I was not saying military retirement has no value, I only took issue with your take that earlier years are worth more since contributions have had time to add up.

And, although similiar to a defined benefit plan, it is not quite the same. Which is why it is important to have an attorney who understands the difference.

 

[mistoffolees]

I was not saying military retirement has no value, I only took issue with your take that earlier years are worth more since contributions have had time to add up.

I said 'arguably...'. There are lots of different ways to account for things, even when dealing with a defined benefit plan which is regulated by the SEC. I was simply pointing out that one very reasonable argument would make the earlier years more valuable than the later years (that is, if the same amount of money or the same percentage of salary were contributed to a virtual pool each year, the portion of the pool from the earliest years would be worth considerably more than the portion from the later years).

The same argument could go the other way. Some plans allocate pension payments on the basis of age and years of service - which means that the LATER years are more valuable.

And then there's the possibility that neither of those is relevant - if the law specifies how the money needs to be split.

I wasn't arguing that it should be calculated in either of these ways, but rather that there are lots of reasons why simply dividing the current value by the number of years might not be meaningful. I basically suggested the same thing - he needs an attorney familiar with military pensions.