dtboulet said:
yes, it is 3 years after the fact, but the question remains the same. I am actually looking for legal advice not opinions. According to what I have been able to find out so far, the most she could lpossibly be entitled to is 50% of my retirement for the 8 years that we were married, roughly 20% of the total if I retire at 20 years. There is a chance that may not be enforceable since I was not a resident of AZ at the time of the divorce which may limit their jurisdiction and ability to grant any portion of the retirement without my consent or presence. In addition, under federal law, she is not entitled to any of my retirement under since we were married less than 10 years. I was hoping to find someone on the forum who is familiar with military law who could confirm or clarify my assumptions.
Do a search on the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act. There is NO entitlement to military retired pay no matter how many years of marriage. The USFSPA allows states to treat military retirement pay as property in a divorce and, therefore, subject to division like any other marital property. Many soldiers and their spouses hear about the "10 year" rule, but explore it no further. If you've been married to an active duty military member for at least 10 years while the member served on active duty AND you are awarded a portion of the retired pay as a property settlement in divorce, the former spouse may send in the court order with a DD Fm 2293 to receive direct pay. That's all. And, no matter what the court awards, DFAS will never send more than 50% of "disposable" retired pay unless child support or alimony is also involved. Somehow, this gets twisted into 10 years of marriage gets you 50% of retired pay. Or, that you have to be married 10 years to receive any award at all. Not true. Whether or not retired pay is awarded or how much is awarded is up to the state court.
Since you and your ex-wife were only married 8 years, she will never be able to receive a direct payment of your retired pay. However, that doesn't change the fact that you have been ordered to pay her by court order. If you do not pay her, she could take to back to court for contempt. 50% is not a normal division considering you were only married 8 years. But, as others have pointed out, you're about 3 years late in trying to fight this. The USFSPA also addresses some jurisdiction issues, I can't recall the details. I think jurisdiction for active duty military re divorce is also addressed in US Soldiers & Sailors Relief Act.
