Dual-veteran divorce is uniquely complicated because military retired pay, VA disability compensation, survivor benefits, and military health coverage are governed by separate federal systems that do not align with state divorce law or with one another. A state court can issue a divorce decree that appears equitable on paper and still produce outcomes that DFAS or the Department of Veterans Affairs cannot legally implement. When both spouses are veterans, these risks compound, creating a fragmented process with no single agency responsible for coordinating outcomes.
Military Retired Pay and the Limits of State Court Authority
Military retired pay is divisible in divorce only because Congress permits it under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act, codified at 10 U.S.C. § 1408. The statute allows state courts to treat “disposable retired pay” as marital property, but only as federally defined. DFAS enforces these limits strictly and will not honor orders that exceed statutory authority or fail to meet technical requirements, regardless of a judge’s intent. DFAS guidance makes clear that it pays only what federal law authorizes and only when the former spouse submits a compliant order and application.
In dual-vet divorces, there are often two retired pay streams. This results in two DFAS enforcement processes and two chances for error. DFAS also caps direct payments to former spouses at 50% of a servicemember’s disposable retired pay under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act. This cap applies regardless of what a state court orders and regardless of how many obligations the court attempts to satisfy through retirement pay. As a result, when courts try to use retirement pay to cover multiple property awards or financial obligations, DFAS will still enforce only up to the statutory limit, leaving the remainder unenforceable through DFAS and shifting collection back to the parties themselves.
VA Disability Compensation and Federal Preemption
VA disability compensation adds another layer of instability. To receive VA disability pay, a retiree generally must waive a corresponding portion of military retired pay. That waiver reduces the amount of divisible retired pay available to a former spouse. The Supreme Court held in Mansell v. Mansell that states may not divide the portion of retired pay waived to receive VA disability compensation.
In Howell v. Howell, the Supreme Court held that state courts may not remedy that reduction by ordering the veteran to reimburse or indemnify the former spouse for the lost amount. Even if the divorce assumed a stable pension or the disability rating occurs years later, federal law preempts state courts from restoring the former spouse’s share through offset or repayment orders.
Concurrent Receipt and Special Compensation
Some retirees qualify for Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay, which allows receipt of both retired pay and VA disability compensation under 10 U.S.C. § 1414. Others receive Combat-Related Special Compensation under 10 U.S.C. § 1413a. These programs affect how money is characterized and paid, which matters because DFAS treats retired pay and special compensation differently for division and enforcement. Dual-vet couples face this classification problem twice, increasing the risk that income streams assumed to be divisible turn out not to be.
Survivor Benefit Plan Deadlines that Quietly Erase Rights
The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) is one of the most commonly mishandled aspects of military divorce. If a divorce decree requires former-spouse SBP coverage, the former spouse must submit a deemed election request to DFAS within one year of the court order. Missing that deadline can permanently eliminate SBP coverage, even if the decree clearly awarded it. Guidance emphasizes that SBP elections are deadline-driven and unforgiving.
Dual-vet divorces often involve two SBP decisions, doubling the administrative risk. A party can “win” SBP in court and still lose it entirely through a missed filing.
TRICARE Eligibility After Divorce
Health care assumptions frequently break down after dual-vet divorces. TRICARE eligibility for former spouses depends on statutory criteria such as the 20/20/20 and 20/20/15 rules, which turn on years of marriage overlapping creditable service. Eligibility does not automatically continue simply because both spouses served. TRICARE guidance and Title 10make clear that eligibility is status-based and time-dependent.
Spousal Support and VA Apportionment Confusion
VA disability compensation cannot be divided as marital property, but VA regulations allow limited apportionment to spouses or dependents in certain circumstances. These rules are administrative, not judicial, and VA evaluates them independently of state divorce orders. In dual-vet divorces, parties often misunderstand whether apportionment applies after divorce or assume it functions like pension division, which it does not.
Why There Is No Unified Support System
The difficulty is structural. DFAS processes division and direct payment of military retired pay only through the USFSPA framework and its application requirements, not simply because a divorce decree says so. VA disability compensation is governed under Title 38 as an administrative benefits program, separate from DFAS retired pay rules. TRICARE eligibility after divorce follows its own criteria and requires separate administrative steps through DEERS/DMDC. As a result, there is no single standardized “divorce process” across DoD and VA; dual-vet divorces require multiple agency-specific actions, each with its own deadlines and constraints.
Making the Minefield Survivable
Dual-vet divorce becomes manageable only when benefits are treated as a federal compliance problem, not just a family-law dispute. Decrees must track USFSPA requirements precisely, anticipate disability-related changes that federal law will not allow courts to fix later, and treat SBP and TRICARE deadlines as operational mandates. Federal law sets the boundaries, and ignoring those boundaries is what produces the most damaging surprises.
