The biggest issue in dividing is getting three years of financial documents that are needed to calculate the frozen benefit for active duty members of the military. I need at least three years of financial records to perform the frozen benefit Recommend that you get these records through the discovery during the Divorce process. Information is necessary for active duty and reserve members of the military. These records are hard to get if you wait for the member to retire to draft the order.

The next issue is getting a copy of DD-214 or the National Guard or reservist annual statement. This information is needed to calculate the community portion of the retirement and calculate the frozen benefit for reservist member. Recommend that you get these records through the discovery during the Divorce process. These records are hard to get if you wait for the member to retire. These records are even hard to get by the military member.

If the member is not retired at the time of the Dissolution and he was married for ten years while the member served in the military, then the survivorship annuity is an issue. The non-member can get their portion of this benefit, and the award needs to be in the Decree of Dissolution or a merged property settlement agreement. If the military member is retired and has exercised the survivorship annuity, then the non-member can their portion of the benefit. It needs to be listed in the Decree of a merged property settlement agreement. If the survivorship annuity was not exercised at the time of retirement, then the non-member cannot get a portion of the annuity.

If the parties were not married for ten years with the military member serving, the retirement could be divided; at least in Arizona. It is done by separate court order is done to divide the account, and the same information is needed.

The order to divide military retirement pay is submitted when the military member retires with a DD-2293, direct deposit form, IRS W4-P, and DD-2656 if the non-member is entitled to the survivorship benefit.

I recommend consulting with an attorney regarding these issues. This article is not intended to provide legal advice.