Military divorce requires more than ordinary divorce experience.

A military divorce in California is an ordinary California divorce with federal law layered on top. California's Family Code decides custody, support and how community property is divided, while federal statutes control how military retired pay is paid, when a case can be paused for military duty, and what happens to survivor benefits and military health coverage.

Most people facing a military divorce arrive with two sets of rules in their head and no clear sense of which one wins. A sailor in San Diego County may be worried that a deployment will let the case move forward without them. A spouse who followed a career through several PCS moves may not know whether years of retired pay earned during the marriage are hers to share, or whether her health coverage ends the day the judgment is entered. This guide walks through each layer in the order a case usually meets them.

What Makes a Military Divorce Different Under California Law

For a family stationed in San Diego County, the case is heard by the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, the same court that handles every other family law case in the county.

California's waiting period applies in full. Under Family Code section 2339, no judgment ends the marriage until six months have passed from the date the summons and petition are served or the date the respondent appears in the case, whichever occurs first. The clock does not start at filing, and the court may extend the period for good cause.

Four federal programs shape most military divorces:

• USFSPA — the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act, the federal law that lets state courts divide military retired pay and governs how a former spouse's share is paid.
• SCRA — the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which protects service members from having civil cases decided against them while military duty keeps them from participating.
• SBP — the Survivor Benefit Plan, a federal program that can pay a monthly annuity to a survivor after a retired member dies.
• TRICARE — the federal health care program for service members, retirees and their families.

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and Divorce Proceedings

Two sections of the SCRA do most of the work in a divorce. One pauses a case. The other protects a service member from losing by default.

A default judgment is a judgment entered against someone who never responded to the case. 50 U.S.C. § 3931 requires the person asking for judgment to file an affidavit stating whether the other party is in military service, with facts to support it, or stating that they cannot determine it. If the other party appears to be in military service, the court cannot enter judgment until it appoints an attorney to represent that person. If a default judgment is entered against a service member during service, or within 60 days after release, the court must reopen it on the member's application if military service materially affected the member's ability to defend and the member has a meritorious or legal defense. That application must be filed no later than 90 days after release from service.

In practice, a deployment or a PCS, a permanent change of station, meaning an official transfer to a new duty assignment, can slow a case. It does not end it. Military OneSource describes how a deployed parent may use the SCRA to postpone custody hearings while unavailable due to deployment, in its guide to child custody considerations for military families. Once duty allows, the case resumes.

Dividing Military Retired Pay Under the USFSPA

The USFSPA does not automatically give a former spouse any share of military retired pay. A former spouse's share comes from a state court order that divides the retired pay under the governing state law. The federal statute, codified at 10 U.S.C. § 1408, governs payment of retired pay in compliance with court orders. What it allows is for a state court to treat military retired pay as property that can be divided, and in California that division follows community property rules: the portion earned during the marriage while the couple was domiciled here is generally community property.

The 10/10 rule is often misunderstood. It decides only whether DFAS can pay a former spouse's share directly, based on how long the marriage overlapped with the member's creditable military service. It does not decide whether retired pay can be divided. A court can divide retired pay earned during a shorter overlap; the difference is how the share reaches the former spouse. A former spouse applies for direct payment on DD Form 2293, the DFAS Application for Former Spouse Payments from Retired Pay.

Several payments that sound alike are legally separate. Military retired pay is pay earned through service. VA disability compensation is a separate payment for service-connected disability. CRDP, Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay, and CRSC, Combat-Related Special Compensation, are each their own payments with their own rules. They are not one "military pension," and each is treated differently. DFAS notes, for example, that retired pay a member waives in order to receive compensation under Title 38 is among the authorized deductions from disposable retired pay. How these payments interact in a particular case is fact-specific, and more detail appears in the guide to military retirement division. When DFAS returns an order, the problem and its fix are covered in the guide on enforcing military retirement division.

The Survivor Benefit Plan and What It Covers

The Survivor Benefit Plan is a federal program that pays a continuing monthly annuity to a designated beneficiary after a retired service member dies. Without it, a former spouse's share of retired pay generally ends when the retiree's retired pay ends. That is why SBP coverage is often one of the most consequential items in a military divorce settlement.

Under 10 U.S.C. § 1450(a), the annuity is paid effective as of the first day after the member's death, or on another day the member provides for under the statute. The eligible former spouse is among the beneficiaries the section names. Section 1450(b) also provides that an annuity to a surviving spouse or former spouse who remarries before age 55 is paid until that remarriage, and resumes if that later marriage ends by death, annulment or divorce.

Child Custody and Deployment Under California Law

The question a deployed or relocating parent tends to carry is whether time away will cost them their place in the child's life. California law addresses this directly, starting with the best-interest test under Family Code section 3011. The factors the court considers include the health, safety and welfare of the child; a history of abuse by a parent or anyone seeking custody; and the habitual or continual illegal use of controlled substances, the habitual or continual abuse of alcohol, or the habitual or continual abuse of prescribed controlled substances. The list is partial; the court also considers other relevant factors consistent with section 3020.

Deployment has its own rule. Under Family Code section 3047, when a parent with custody or visitation receives temporary duty, deployment or mobilization orders that require a move a substantial distance away or otherwise materially affect their ability to exercise custody or visitation, any necessary change to the custody order is a temporary order made without prejudice, subject to review when the parent returns. The court may also, on the relocating parent's motion, grant reasonable visitation to a stepparent, grandparent or other family member, but only if it makes the findings section 3047(b)(3)(B) lists. That visitation is neither automatic nor simply the parent's choice.