Q: I was awarded partial retirement benefits in the marriage dissolution from my ex spouse after 27 years of marriage. He was in the service the entire length of our marriage. He was drafted several months before we were married, and served 3 years in the Army. When he ended his active duty tour, he was a member of the Army Reserves for a few years and then joined the Florida National Guard. He retired in 2012 with 41 years of service. When my portion of the retirement benefit is calculated, would the start date of the calculations begin when he was sworn in after he was drafted, or begin when he joined the National Guard? I believe the 41 years include all his service time (Army, reserves and National Guard). Thanks for your help with this.
–Gwen, address not provided
A: I can tell you what I think makes sense based on what you’ve written. However, regardless of my thoughts, the answer to your question can be found in your divorce decree. Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) requires that an award be stated as a fixed dollar amount or as a percentage of disposable retired pay. Since it doesn’t sound as if he had begun to receive retired pay at the time of the divorce, a formula may have been used. Check out page six of the “Guidance on Dividing Military Retired Pay” for DFAS guidance on what the award should have looked like. What does your divorce decree say on the subject?
It’s not clear from your summary, but it appears your ex retired from Guard. If that’s the case, his retirement will be based on points he earned during his active duty, guard, and reserve service. In my opinion, your portion of his retirement should be a percentage determined by dividing the number of points he earned while you were married by his total points. However, opinions don’t translate into dollars, check your decree!
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