The 10/10 Rule in Military Divorce: What It Does — and Doesn't — Decide

The 10/10 rule decides only whether the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) can pay a former spouse's court-awarded share of military retired pay directly. It applies when the marriage lasted at least 10 years while the service member performed at least 10 years of creditable service. It does not decide whether retired pay can be divided.

Most people facing a military divorce in San Diego County hear about the 10/10 rule early, often from a friend, a coworker or a spouse, and usually in a form that sounds like a verdict. A sailor married eight years may have been told the spouse "gets nothing" from the retirement. A military spouse may have been told the opposite, or may simply be lying awake wondering whether a marriage that fell short of a decade means years of moves and missed careers count for nothing. Both are trying to answer a real question about money they have planned a future around, and the rumor version of the rule leads both in the wrong direction.

This article explains what the rule actually says, what DFAS does with it, how it differs from the separate question of dividing retired pay under California law, and how related thresholds and benefits fit around it. DFAS is the Department of Defense agency that pays military retired pay; for this subject, it is the office that receives and carries out divorce orders.

What the 10/10 Rule Actually Says

The rule lives in 10 U.S.C. § 1408, part of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act (USFSPA). The USFSPA is the federal law that allows state courts to treat military retired pay as property in a divorce and that sets the terms on which the military pays a former spouse under a court order.

The 10/10 language sits in subsection (d)(2). It reads:

"If the spouse or former spouse to whom payments are to be made under this section was not married to the member for a period of 10 years or more during which the member performed at least 10 years of service creditable in determining the member's eligibility for retired pay, payments may not be made under this section to the extent that they include an amount resulting from the treatment by the court under subsection (c) of disposable retired pay of the member as property of the member or property of the member and his spouse."

The two "10s" measure overlap. The first is at least 10 years of marriage. The second is at least 10 years of creditable military service, meaning service that counts toward retirement eligibility, performed during those married years. Ten years of marriage and ten years of service that only partly overlap do not satisfy the test.

The consequence is narrow. When the overlap falls short, DFAS may not make payments "under this section" of the property-division share. The text says nothing about a court losing the power to divide retired pay. It also limits itself to the property share; it does not bar DFAS payments of child support or alimony ordered from retired pay.

Put plainly, meeting the 10/10 threshold is a payment-routing question, not an entitlement question. It controls which pipe the money flows through, not whether the money is owed.

How DFAS Direct Payment Works — and What Happens When the Rule Isn't Met

Under 10 U.S.C. § 1408(d)(1), after "effective service" of a qualifying court order, DFAS makes payments from the member's disposable retired pay to the former spouse. Effective service, under subsection (b), means the order reaches the designated agent personally, by fax, electronic transmission or mail; is regular on its face; identifies the member, including the Social Security number where possible; and certifies that the member's rights under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act were observed.

For a property division, the order must "specifically provide" for payment of an amount "expressed in dollars or as a percentage of disposable retired pay." An order that awards "half the pension" without that kind of specificity can stall at DFAS even if a California judge signed it. The order dividing retired pay is often called a military retired pay division order; whatever its title, it is submitted to DFAS for processing.

The statute sets several timing and payment terms:

• If the member is already receiving retired pay when the order is effectively served, payments begin no later than 90 days after effective service.
• If the member is not yet retired, payments begin no later than 90 days after the member first becomes entitled to retired pay.
• Payments are made no more often than once a month, on the normal retired pay cycle.
• Payments end as the order provides, but no later than the death of the member or of the former spouse, whichever comes first.
• A property award stated as a percentage of disposable retired pay rises with later cost-of-living adjustments.

When the 10/10 overlap is not met, DFAS cannot send the property share. The former spouse's share does not disappear; it must come from the service member directly. In practice the obligation is written into the California judgment, and if payments are not made, the former spouse returns to the California court to enforce it. The absence of direct payment changes how the share is collected, not whether it was awarded.

Military Retired Pay, VA Disability, CRDP, and CRSC: Why the Distinctions Matter

Many military households in San Diego County receive more than one federal payment, and divorce is often the first time anyone has to separate them line by line. That sorting matters because each payment is its own legal category.

Military retired pay is the monthly payment a service member receives after completing qualifying service. It is the payment the USFSPA and the 10/10 rule address.

VA disability compensation is a separate federal benefit paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs based on a service-connected disability. It is not military retired pay. Section 1408(a)(4)(A)(ii) defines "disposable retired pay," the pool a court order can reach through DFAS, as total monthly retired pay minus several items, including amounts deducted "as a result of a waiver of retired pay required by law in order to receive compensation under title 5 or title 38." Title 38 covers veterans' benefits. So when a retiree waives retired pay to receive VA disability compensation, the waived amount falls outside disposable retired pay.

The definition also subtracts amounts owed for prior overpayments and recoupments, court-martial forfeitures, certain disability retired pay under chapter 61, and premiums for a survivor annuity elected for the former spouse who is receiving the share.

Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) is a payment program that, for certain retirees, restores some or all of the retired pay otherwise offset by VA disability compensation. Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) is a separate payment for certain retirees whose disabilities are combat-related. Each program has its own eligibility rules, and neither is simply another name for retired pay or for VA compensation.

These four payments are not one "military pension." A judge in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego reviewing a military divorce works within these federal categories, and a judgment that blurs them invites trouble. An order that does not say precisely which payment it divides, and from what base, can be rejected by DFAS or leave the parties arguing years later about what was meant.

How California Courts Divide Military Retired Pay in San Diego County

Under 10 U.S.C. § 1408(c)(1), a court "may treat disposable retired pay" either as property solely of the member or as property of the member and spouse "in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction of such court." That is permission, not an award. The USFSPA does not automatically give a former spouse any share; the share comes from a state court order applying state law.

For California, that law is community property. Family Code section 2550 provides that, except by written agreement, oral stipulation in open court or as otherwise provided, the court "shall… divide the community estate of the parties equally." The portion of retired pay earned during the marriage is generally treated as community property, and the portion earned before marriage or after separation is generally separate property.

The federal statute adds its own conditions. Under section 1408(c)(4), a court may divide retired pay only if it has jurisdiction over the member through residence (other than because of military assignment), domicile, or consent. A service member stationed in San Diego on orders, with a home of record elsewhere, does not become subject to division here by assignment alone. Section 1408(c)(3) also bars a court from ordering a member to retire at a particular time to start payments.

Military divorces filed in San Diego County are heard by the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. Two California rules shape the financial side of those cases:

• Valuation date. Family Code section 2552 directs the court to value assets and liabilities "as near as practicable to the time of trial." On 30 days' notice and for good cause, the court may value assets at a date after separation and before trial. The date of separation remains important for deciding what is community, but it is not the default valuation date.
• Disclosure. Under Family Code section 2104(f), the petitioner serves the preliminary declaration of disclosure with the petition or within 60 days of filing it, and the respondent does the same with the response or within 60 days of filing it. Those periods can be extended by written agreement or court order. Retirement interests belong on that disclosure.

To be accepted for direct payment, the resulting order has to satisfy California law and the requirements of 10 U.S.C. § 1408 at the same time. California's self-help pages at selfhelp.courts.ca.gov describe the general divorce process, and the San Diego court's site is at sdcourt.ca.gov.

The 20/20/20 and 20/20/15 Rules: Related Thresholds for TRICARE and Other Benefits

The 20/20/20 and 20/20/15 rules come up in nearly the same breath as the 10/10 rule, which is why they are so often mixed together. They are different tests that answer different questions.

The 20/20/20 rule refers to a combination of years of marriage, years of creditable military service and years those periods overlapped. It is a threshold for a former spouse's eligibility for certain continuing military benefits, including, in some cases, TRICARE, the military health care program. The 20/20/15 rule is a related test with a shorter overlap, tied to a more limited set of transitional benefits. Exact eligibility terms come from federal benefit law, and the details depend on each family's dates.

Neither rule affects whether a California court can divide retired pay, and neither decides whether DFAS can pay a property share directly. Those questions belong to California community property law and to the 10/10 language in 10 U.S.C. § 1408(d)(2).

What This Means for a Military Divorce Case in San Diego County

From Coronado and Chula Vista to El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside and the Camp Pendleton area, military families across San Diego County face these same questions with very different service histories. A spouse married six years to a Marine and a spouse married twenty-two years to a retired chief are both governed by the same federal and California framework, but they meet it at different points.

Three ideas hold that framework together:

1. Division and payment are separate questions. A California court can divide retired pay even when the 10/10 overlap is not met. The former spouse then collects from the service member, with the California court available for enforcement, rather than from DFAS.
2. Precision in the order matters. The order identifies the payment being divided, states the share as a dollar amount or a percentage of disposable retired pay, often through a formula reflecting the community portion, and includes what section 1408(b) requires for effective service.
3. Survivor coverage is its own issue. The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) is a program that pays a monthly annuity to a surviving spouse or former spouse after the service member's death. Because payments under section 1408 end at the member's death, a former spouse's share of retired pay does not continue on its own; survivor coverage has to be addressed in the judgment separately from the division of retired pay.

Questions about whether a veteran qualifies for VA disability compensation, CRDP or CRSC, or other federal administrative matters, sit outside a divorce case. Military Family Law Advocates practices California family law only.

If You'd Like to Talk Through How This Applies to Your Case

The 10/10 rule is easy to state and easy to misread, and the stakes sit in the details: the exact dates of marriage and creditable service, where the service member is domiciled, which payments are actually in play, and whether the order is written in a way DFAS will accept. A confidential consultation with the firm is a place to raise those questions.

To talk with the firm about the 10/10 rule, call Military Family Law Advocates at 888-771-0460 for a confidential consultation.