Reserve Family Law Issues

Division of Reserve Military Retirement

A reservist accrues retirement credit by virtue of points earned, not how long he has spent in the reserves. 10 U.S. Code § 12732. Accordingly, a reserve retirement is based upon the sum of active duty days, active points earned in the reserves, and (subject to limits) inactive points earned. That combination of credit is then converted to active duty months/years by dividing the total by 360. 10 U.S. Code § 12733.

So the formula is the same as with active duty, but instead of days and months, utilizes points earned during the marriage divided by the points at dissolution, DoD Financial Management Regulation. Chapter 29. Per Section 290211, an active duty retirement is typically expressed in months, whereas a reserve retirement is expressed in points. Moreover, use of months is mandatory for an active duty retirement and points for a reserve retirement when providing the coverture formula numerator to DFAS. Section 290607.

DFAS has a publication, Guidance on Dividing Military Retired Pay which states:

“If the court order provides a formula award to divide a reserve retirement, then the court order must provide us with the numerator of the marital fraction, expressed in terms of reserve retirement points earned during the marriage. For such orders, failing to provide the numerator expressed as reserve points earned during the marriage will cause the court order to be rejected.” (p.11) (Emphasis added).

The Colorado Court of Appeals has recognized that a reserve retirement should be calculated in terms of points, rather than years:

“The military benefit is based on points which are converted into years of service. Since the basis of years of credited service is points, the coverture fraction for military benefits must be determined in terms of points rather than years, as is normally the case. Use of a simple years of service computation rather than recognition of the point system will, in some situations lead to inequitable conclusions.”

In re: Marriage of Beckman, 800 P.2d 1376, 1379 (Colo. App. 1990), favorably quoting W. Troyan, "Procedures for Evaluating Retirement Entitlements Under Non-ERISA, Retirement Systems for Marriage Dissolution Actions," 3 J.P. McCahey, ed., Valuation & Distribution of Marital Property § 46.34(1) (1990).

A reservist who has at least 20 years of qualifying service (50 or more retirement points earned in the year) is eligible for retirement, but being retired does not mean being paid, as it does for active duty. A reservist will start to receive a military retirement on his 60th birthday, though it could be a bit earlier with qualifying overseas service.

In order to calculate a reserve retirement, one needs the member’s retirement points statement. Both an annual statement, plus a screenshot of points received since the last statement, is readily available online to members.

Moreover, a reservist retirement is invariably worth less than an active duty retirement simply because the member has accrued fewer credits. Reserve time is converted to active duty time on a point-for-day basis, so, for example, if a reservist has earned exactly 90 points per year for 20 years, that member will have accumulated 1800 points towards retirement. Divide that by 365, and the total is just over 4.9 years. Put another way, that reservist’s monthly retirement would be about 5/20, or ¼ of the retirement of a member who served on active duty for 20 years.

Reserve Component SBP (RCSBP)

The reserve component has a Survivor Benefit Plan, similar to the active duty SBP, except that an election must be made within 90 days of eligibility to retire. And once made, the election is effectively irrevocable!

More Information

Reserve Component Retirements, from the U.S. Army Human Resources Command.

For information on how a reserve military retirement is calculated, see this comprehensive article from The Balance Careers.

Reserve Component SBP site from DFAS for more information.

Reserve Component Survivor Benefit Plan Coverage & Costs, from the Army’s Human Resources Command.