In 2017 congress changed the way military retirement pay is divided. It has been nicked name, the frozen benefit rule. This means that the receiving spouse’s benefit is frozen at the time of the divorce, like taking a picture of the account. This rule does not apply if the service member receives their retirement pay at the time of the divorce. It sets a formula for considering the time of service and how much the service member earned at the time of the divorce.

Congress changed the formula traditionally used to divide retirement accounts in a divorce to the following: marital service years separated by the total service years by total service years.

Congress defined the service members’ income at the time of the divorce as determining high-3 pay. It means you average the service members’ three ears gross pay during the last three years of marriage. The three-year calculation ends at the date the divorce decree is entered.

This post is not legal advice, and I recommend contacting an attorney in your local area. The information for this post is from the following website: https://www.nclamp.gov/for-lawyers/additional-resources/just-for-judges-military-pension-division-the-new-frozen-benefit-rule/