Divorce can be a complicated process. It can be even more complex when you or your spouse is in the military. You may have a lot of questions. For example, how are retirement accounts divided in a divorce? Or perhaps the concern is slightly more straightforward, such as finding a reputable divorce lawyer. Let’s look at retired military benefits for divorced spouses.
Military Benefits Vs. Military Pension
Today, we will only be discussing benefits, not pensions, as they are separate things. So if your question is, “What happens to military pensions in a divorce?”, click this link to learn more.
Retired military spouse benefits are those the spouse has access to as the spouse of a retired military member. These include but are not limited to military healthcare coverage, military dental care, access to shopping on military bases, and education benefits.
Is A Spouse Eligible For Retired Military Benefits After Divorce?
Simply put, the answer is generally no, but the military has the twenty-twenty-twenty rule in specific scenarios. Allow us to explain in further detail.
For a spouse to be eligible for retired military benefits after a divorce, the spouse in the military must have served for a minimum of twenty years. The marriage must have lasted a minimum of twenty years. Lastly, those twenty years of marriage and service must also overlap.
As an example:
Tom was already in the military for five years when he got married to jane. Tom retired from the military after twenty years. Things went well for a few more years, and then Tom and Jane got divorced. Because only fifteen years of marriage overlapped the twenty years of service, Jane is not eligible for military benefits.
Tom and Jane married before Tom joined the military in the following example. This time, they divorced after Tom had been in the military for fifteen years. Once again, Jane is not entitled to retired spouse benefits.
For our final example, Tom was in the military for five years when he married Jane. However, he served for twenty-six years before retiring. A few years after retirement Tom and Jane divorced. The marriage lasted at least twenty years, which overlapped his twenty years of service. So Jane is entitled to retired spouse benefits, even though they are now divorced.
It is important to note that if there was a minimum of fifteen years overlapping marriage and military service, the spouse might be entitled to transitional medical benefits. These benefits may end when the divorced spouse finds a new job that offers medical coverage, if the spouse remarries, or after a specific time.
Final Thought
Being a military spouse is not an easy life. Your spouse may be deployed far from home for long periods. The military may decide to move you and your family to the far side of the world at a moment’s notice.
The constant moving and absence can make life difficult for even the toughest spouses. After such a stressful experience, it is crucial to find a qualified and knowledgeable divorce lawyer to help guide you through your options and rights in this difficult time.
