The SCRA and Divorce in California: A Step-by-Step Guide for Servicemembers and Military Spouses

In a California divorce, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protects the servicemember's ability to take part in the case. A court can pause the case for at least 90 days when military duty prevents appearance. It also cannot enter a default judgment until the military-status steps are done. The Act does not decide property, support or custody.

Most people facing this process come to it at a hard moment. A spouse may be on orders, a set of papers may have arrived during a deployment, or a military spouse in San Diego County may be wondering whether the case can move forward at all while the other spouse is away. Either way, the questions are practical ones: what happens first, what can pause the case, and what California and federal law each decide. This guide walks through the steps in order, from residency and service to retired pay, custody during deployment, and benefits after the judgment.

The guide covers seven steps, followed by a timeline and the most common complications. There is no single cost or duration for a military divorce. Both depend on whether the case is contested, whether a stay is requested, and how many military benefits are involved.

Before You Start: What the SCRA Does — and Does Not — Do in a California Divorce

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, or SCRA, is the federal law at 50 U.S.C. § 3901 and the sections that follow it. It gives procedural protection in civil cases to members of the uniformed services. The Act applies in every state and to "any judicial or administrative proceeding commenced in any court or agency in any jurisdiction subject to this chapter," though not to criminal proceedings (50 U.S.C. § 3912(b)), so it reaches a divorce in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, the same way it reaches any other California civil case. A "servicemember" is a member of the uniformed services. "Military service" generally means active duty, along with certain National Guard calls to service and periods of absence from duty for sickness, wounds, leave or other lawful cause (50 U.S.C. § 3911).

Two SCRA protections matter most in a divorce:

• Stay of proceedings (50 U.S.C. § 3932). A stay is a court-ordered pause. A servicemember who has notice of the case and whose duty prevents appearance can ask for one.
• Protection against default judgments (50 U.S.C. § 3931). A default judgment is a judgment entered when the other side never appears. The SCRA requires a military-status affidavit and, in some cases, a court-appointed attorney before a default judgment can be entered.

The SCRA does not decide how property is divided, how military retired pay is treated, what support is ordered, or who has custody. California's Family Code decides those questions, together with federal statutes such as the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act (USFSPA). The USFSPA is the federal law that lets state courts treat military retired pay as divisible property and allows payment of a court-ordered share through the military pay system. The SCRA also does not change California's six-month waiting period. Under Family Code section 2339, that period runs from the date the summons and petition are served or the date the respondent appears in the case, whichever occurs first. It does not run from the date of filing.

Documents usually gathered at the start include proof of military status, any deployment, mobilization or temporary duty orders, and records that show where each spouse has lived and where the servicemember claims domicile. For a broader overview of the whole case, see this guide to California military spouse divorce.

Step 1: Establish California Jurisdiction and Residency

Under Family Code section 2320, a judgment of dissolution generally may not be entered unless one spouse has been a resident of California for six months, and of the county where the case is filed for three months, immediately before the petition is filed. The petition is filed in the county where that requirement is met. A military family living in San Diego County files with the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, which hears family law cases there.

Military life complicates this because two legal ideas are easy to confuse:

• Physical presence means where a person is actually living or stationed right now.
• Domicile means the place a person treats as their permanent home and intends to return to.

A servicemember stationed in California is physically present here but may be domiciled in another state. Domicile generally does not change just because orders send a person somewhere new. A servicemember who was domiciled in California before entering active duty can remain domiciled in California while stationed elsewhere. Domicile also matters later, because community property is property acquired during the marriage while domiciled in California (Family Code section 760).

Because either spouse can satisfy section 2320(a)'s residence requirement for a dissolution, a military spouse who has been a California resident for six months and a San Diego County resident for three months before filing may meet it even when the servicemember is deployed or has received PCS orders. The details of each family's moves are what decide which county qualifies. More on local filing context appears in this page on San Diego military divorce.

Step 2: Serve the Servicemember — and Understand the Default Judgment Protections

Service of process is formal delivery of the summons and petition to the other spouse. Serving an active-duty servicemember follows California's ordinary rules for service of a summons and petition. The SCRA adds steps only if the servicemember never appears in the case.

If the servicemember does not appear, 50 U.S.C. § 3931 applies to "any civil action or proceeding, including any child custody proceeding." Before entering judgment, the court must require the petitioner to file an affidavit that does one of two things:

• states whether or not the respondent is in military service and shows the facts supporting that statement, or
• states that the petitioner cannot determine whether the respondent is in military service.

Petitioners commonly confirm military status through the federal Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) status verification site at scra.dmdc.osd.mil. That site is a federal government resource.

If it appears that the respondent is in military service, the court may not enter a judgment until it appoints an attorney to represent the servicemember (50 U.S.C. § 3931(b)(2)). If that appointed attorney cannot locate the servicemember, the attorney's actions in the case do not waive any of the servicemember's defenses or otherwise bind the servicemember. If the affidavits leave military status unclear, the court may require the petitioner to post a bond before entering judgment (50 U.S.C. § 3931(b)(3)).

None of this makes a default impossible. These are procedural safeguards, and a judgment can still be entered once they are met. If a default judgment is entered against a servicemember during military service or within 60 days after it ends, the court must, on the servicemember's application, reopen the judgment to allow a defense if the servicemember was materially affected by military service in making a defense and has a meritorious or legal defense; the application must be filed not later than 90 days after the termination of or release from military service (50 U.S.C. § 3931(g)).

Step 3: Request or Respond to a Stay of Proceedings Under 50 U.S.C. § 3932

A stay of proceedings pauses the case. While a stay is in effect, the matters it covers do not move forward. A stay does not dismiss the divorce, and it does not resolve property, support or custody.

Under 50 U.S.C. § 3932, the stay is available to a party who, when applying, is in military service or within 90 days after release from it, and who has received notice of the case. At any stage before final judgment, the court may grant a stay on its own motion. The court must grant one when the servicemember applies and the application includes both of the following:

1. a letter or other communication stating how current military duty materially affects the servicemember's ability to appear, and a date when the servicemember will be available to appear, and
2. a letter or other communication from the servicemember's commanding officer stating that current military duty prevents appearance and that military leave is not authorized at the time of the letter.

When those conditions are met, the court must stay the case on the servicemember's application for not less than 90 days. Applying for the stay does not count as an appearance for jurisdictional purposes. It also does not waive any defense, including a defense based on lack of personal jurisdiction (50 U.S.C. § 3932(c)).

When the initial stay ends, the SCRA allows a servicemember to ask for more time if duty still prevents appearance. The court decides whether a further pause is warranted based on what is shown at that point. A stay requested by the servicemember is different from a pause the court orders on its own motion and from a scheduling continuance the other spouse requests. A servicemember can waive SCRA rights. A waiver that applies to an action the section lists is effective only if it is in writing and executed as an instrument separate from the obligation or liability to which it applies, and a written waiver that applies to a contract, lease or similar legal instrument must be in at least 12-point type (50 U.S.C. § 3918).

For the spouse at home, a stay can feel like the case has stopped for no clear reason. It helps to know that the pause is temporary, that the case stays open, and that the court controls when it resumes.

Step 4: Financial Disclosures and Temporary Orders During an Active Case

California requires both spouses to exchange financial disclosures, whatever their military status. Under Family Code section 2104(f), each spouse serves a preliminary declaration of disclosure. The petitioner serves it with the petition or within 60 days of filing the petition. The respondent serves it with the response or within 60 days of filing the response. The parties can extend that time by written agreement, or the court can extend it by order. A different 30-day rule applies when the petition was served by publication or posting and the respondent later files a response.

Under Family Code section 2105(a), except by court order for good cause, each spouse serves a final declaration of disclosure and a current income and expense declaration, executed under penalty of perjury. Except by court order for good cause, the deadline is before or at the time the parties enter into an agreement resolving property or support issues other than temporary support. If the case goes to trial, the deadline is no later than 45 days before the first assigned trial date. The parties can mutually waive the final declaration, but under section 2105(d) the waiver must be executed under penalty of perjury, either in open court or by separate stipulation.

For support purposes, California law counts military pay and allowances as part of a servicemember's income. The amounts depend on the individual's pay records, which is why the leave and earnings statement is often central to the income and expense declaration. Valuation follows its own rule. Under Family Code section 2552, the court values community assets and debts as near as practicable to the time of trial. On 30 days' notice and for good cause, it may use a date after separation and before trial.

Either spouse may ask for temporary support while the case is pending. An SCRA stay pauses the proceeding. It does not, by itself, cancel an order the court has already made, such as a temporary support order.

Step 5: Dividing Military Retired Pay Under the USFSPA and California Law

Military retired pay is the monthly pay a member receives after qualifying for military retirement. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) is the federal agency that pays it. The USFSPA permits state courts to treat retired pay as property under state law. It does not require any state to do so, and it does not give a former spouse a share on its own. In California, the share attributable to service performed during the marriage while the spouses were domiciled here is community property under Family Code section 760. A former spouse receives a share only through a California court order dividing the retired pay.

The 10/10 rule is often misunderstood. It is a federal threshold based on how long the marriage overlapped the member's creditable military service, and it decides only whether DFAS can pay the former spouse's share directly. It does not decide whether retired pay can be divided. When the threshold is not met, a California court may still divide the retired pay. The servicemember then pays the former spouse's share directly rather than through DFAS.

The order dividing retired pay is sometimes called a military retired pay division order. It must meet DFAS's requirements before DFAS will act on it, including clear identification of the member and a clear way to calculate the share. An order that is vague can be rejected. The mechanics are covered in this guide to a military retirement division order.

Several other payments are kept separate from retired pay:

• VA disability compensation is a payment from the Department of Veterans Affairs for service-connected disability.
• Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) is a payment that restores retired pay for some retirees who also receive VA disability compensation.
• Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) is a separate payment tied to combat-related disabilities.

Each is a different payment with different legal treatment. How any of them affects a particular judgment depends on the facts and the governing law. They are not interchangeable with retired pay.

Step 6: Custody, Visitation, and Deployment Under California Law

If you are in immediate danger, call 911.

California custody decisions turn on the child's best interest. Under Family Code section 3011, the court considers factors including the child's health, safety and welfare. It also considers any history of abuse by a parent or other person seeking custody against the child, against a child related to that person or in that person's care, against the other parent, and against certain others. Another factor is 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. When awarding custody to either parent, the court considers, among other factors, which parent is more likely to allow the child frequent and continuing contact with the noncustodial parent, consistent with sections 3011 and 3020 (Family Code section 3040(a)(1)). The court grants reasonable visitation to a parent when it is shown that visitation would be in the child's best interest (Family Code section 3100(a)).

When custody or visitation is contested, the court must set the contested issues for mediation (Family Code section 3170(a)). Domestic violence cases are handled by Family Court Services under a separate written protocol approved by the Judicial Council (section 3170(b)). In San Diego County, this mediation is child custody recommending counseling with the court's Family Court Services. Under Family Code section 3183(a), except as provided in section 3188, the mediator may, consistent with local court rules, submit a recommendation on custody or visitation. The mediator must first give the recommendations in writing to the parties and their attorneys, including counsel for any minor children, before the hearing. The mediator is then called a child custody recommending counselor. Family Court Services refers to this person as the Family Court Counselor. According to Family Court Services, if no agreement is reached, the counselor makes a recommendation and the hearing goes forward. The judge decides.

Deployment brings its own rules. Under Family Code section 3047(b)(1), when temporary duty, deployment or mobilization orders materially affect a parent's ability to exercise custody or visitation, any needed change is a temporary order made without prejudice. That order is reviewed when the parent returns. Federal law adds that such a temporary order must expire no later than the deployment justifies, and that deployment cannot be the sole factor in a permanent custody modification (50 U.S.C. § 3938). On the deploying parent's motion, the court may grant reasonable visitation to a stepparent, grandparent or other family member only if it makes the findings section 3047(b)(3)(B) lists.

If the court does not consider it inappropriate, a custody order may require a parent to notify the other parent before changing the child's residence for more than 30 days, unless there is prior written agreement to the removal. To the extent feasible, the notice is given at least 45 days before the move so there is time to mediate a new custody agreement (Family Code section 3024).

Domestic violence changes the analysis. If the court finds that a parent seeking custody perpetrated domestic violence within the previous five years against the other party seeking custody, against the child or the child's siblings, or against another person the section describes, a rebuttable presumption arises that awarding that parent sole or joint physical or legal custody is detrimental to the best interest of the child (section 3044(a)). Neither the preference for frequent and continuing contact with both parents nor the preference for contact with the noncustodial parent may be used to rebut it, in whole or in part (section 3044(b)(1)). An ex parte custody order, meaning one made without the usual notice, requires a showing of immediate harm to the child or immediate risk that the child will be removed from California (section 3064(a)). Immediate harm includes, among other things, recent or continuing acts of domestic violence by a parent and recent or continuing sexual abuse of the child (section 3064(b)), and the court must consider a parent's illegal access to firearms and ammunition. Deployment-specific planning is covered in more depth in this guide to military parenting plans.

Step 7: Military Benefits After Divorce — the 20/20/20 Rule, TRICARE, and the Survivor Benefit Plan

TRICARE is the military health care program. Whether a former spouse keeps TRICARE after divorce depends on federal eligibility rules, not on the California judgment. The 20/20/20 rule is the name for a federal threshold built on three measures: the length of the marriage, the length of the member's creditable service, and how long the two overlapped. A former spouse who meets it may remain eligible for TRICARE and certain other benefits. A related threshold with a shorter overlap, often called 20/20/15 (a marriage of at least 20 years, at least 15 but less than 20 of them during the member's at least 20 years of creditable service), gives coverage only for the one-year period beginning on the date of the final decree when the decree is dated on or after April 1, 1985 (10 U.S.C. § 1072(2)(G) and (H)). Eligibility also depends on other conditions in federal law.

The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) is the program that pays a monthly annuity to a beneficiary after a retiree's death. Spouse coverage does not become former-spouse coverage on its own. A California judgment can address whether former-spouse coverage is to be elected, and the election must be completed under federal rules. An SBP annuity is paid effective as of the first day after the member's death, or on another day the member provides under the statute (10 U.S.C. § 1450(a)). The "base amount" used to compute the annuity depends on the kind of annuity (10 U.S.C. § 1447(6)). More detail appears in this guide to the Survivor Benefit Plan.

Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is a military pay allowance. Whether a separated spouse is connected to it is a question of federal military pay rules, not California family law.

Typical Timeline and When the Process Gets More Complicated

No California military divorce runs on a fixed calendar. The one statutory anchor is Family Code section 2339: no judgment can terminate the marriage until six months after the date the summons and petition are served or the date the respondent appears, whichever occurs first. The court can extend that period for good cause. An SCRA stay under 50 U.S.C. § 3932 pauses the proceedings, but it does not shorten the six-month period. The two operate independently. A case can sit through a stay and still need the waiting period, or finish the waiting period while issues remain open.

For the many San Diego County families who learn about a case in the middle of orders and moves, the timeline often feels less predictable than a civilian divorce. These are the factors that usually account for that.

Contested retired pay and SBP

Disputes over retired pay division or an SBP election usually lengthen a case. The order must be precise enough for DFAS to act on it.

Custody disputes and deployment

Contested custody means mandatory mediation. Domestic violence cases follow a separate protocol. Deployment can produce temporary orders that come back for review when the parent returns.

A PCS during the case

A PCS (permanent change of station) is a military reassignment to a new duty location. A PCS during a pending case can affect service, scheduling, and questions about residency and domicile.

Summary dissolution

California offers a simplified summary dissolution for some short, uncomplicated marriages. Its eligibility limits are set by statute and adjusted periodically (Family Code section 2400(b)). Cases involving military retired pay or children often fall outside it.

This guide does not address fact-specific questions such as which state has jurisdiction over a particular retirement or whether a given default judgment can be reopened. Those turn on details an attorney would need to review.

Talking Through the SCRA in a California Military Divorce

The SCRA rarely stands alone. A stay request, a default affidavit or a deployment order usually sits alongside questions about retired pay, SBP and custody, and the order in which those pieces are handled can shape the whole case. A consultation is a place to raise those questions.

To talk with the firm about the SCRA in a divorce, call Military Family Law Advocates at 888-771-0460 for a confidential consultation.

About this article. Military Family Law Advocates is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the U.S. Department of Defense, any military branch or the federal government.