USFSPA Briefings for Service Members

| December 18, 2012 | USFSPA Initiatives | 2 Comments

Briefings for New Recruits and the Military Spouse?

In the 2013 USFSPA proposals, one suggestion was to:

“Encourage and authorize DoD unit commanders to adequately brief all
in-processing personnel, regarding USFSPA provisions and their possible implications to a military career and tragic service personnel suicides”

This is an attempt to increase service members awareness of the USFSPA.

As service members are recruited, no one provides USFSPA briefings. No one says, “Now that I’ve explained the military retirement system, let me explain what happens should you ever get married and then later divorce.”

And, no one briefs the military spouses either.

Commanders and supervisors welcome the military spouse with open arms, but no one tells the military spouse, “Let me explain the military retirement system and the rules that apply should you ever get divorced.”

When marriages fail, often both parties are surprised to learn the important rules set by the USFSPA: Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act.

We need to educate the service members, but then we should also educate military spouses, especially those in a failing marriages about the benefits of reaching the cutoff marks of 10 years, 15 years, and 20 years of marriage with service overlap.

The proposal should read:

“Encourage and authorize DoD unit commanders to adequately brief all
in-processing personnel and their spouses, regarding USFSPA provisions and their possible implications to a military career and tragic service personnel suicides, along with the government provisions of a 10, 15, or 20 year marriage with service overlap“

With discussions arising across the internet, both sides should be represented and we should ensure that military spouses are represented. Follow more news like this: Sign up for our mailing list!

Learn More About the USFSPA & Military Divorce

Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act USFSPA

Former Spouse Protection Act

The Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (USFSPA)
is a controversial law passed in 1982 allowing states to divide a
service member’s retirement pay when dividing marital property.
It also allows a former spouse to apply for alimony and child
support payments from a service member’s retired pay.
It does not award or guarantee a specific share (or percentage of
retirement pay) to the former spouse.

Learn about the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act

We understand that aside from the overview provided in Military Divorce Tips , some readers will want more detailed information or perhaps to just hear it said in different words. Often the clearest understanding will come after reading several articles, each of which might highlight a different aspect of the USFSPA. For this purpose, check out the links below:

Change the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act?

Once you have a clear understanding of the USFSPA, most likely you will favor one viewpoint or another on whether it should be changed.

Read about USFSPA Changes .

Divorce Rights – DoD Financial Management Regulations


Service Member and Military Spouse Divorce Rights

There’s nothing worse than googling about military divorce rights, reading numerous pages, and then finding out that you are either reading dated
information or even worse, reading misinformation.

Many internet links are still in place for previous editions of the Financial Management Regulations, so it is important to keep current on the latest
changes by using the direct links to the official comptroller government site.

DoD 7000.14-R Volume 7B – Military Pay Policy and Procedures – Retired Pay

Older Regulations – Before Revision

Take care when using search engines for military divorce regulations concerning retired pay. The older regulations are still available on the internet
so depending on the case, you may or may not need to apply the most current regulation. Below are some links to some previous regulations.

Related Posts

2 Comments
  1. William gill

    Tinker AFB TAPS class in 2001/2002 was briefing military members on the USFSPA at the 18 year mark BUT one spouse complained to the base C.O and he shut it down because it was not officially part of the circuruim. She felt they where trying to tell her husband to divorce her. This was never the case but one spouse ruined it for the rest. I have tried to get it reinstated but it’s a FIRM no!

  2. USFSPA Survivor

    Yes, the suggestion to co-brief military spouses is helping to level the playing field. However, not every “incoming” military member is married or accompanied at each new assignment; this does NOT negate the need to brief the member. The spousal co-briefing should be at the first available opportunity – just before marriage or upon signing in to a new assignment if accompanied at that time. This reluctance shows the DoD’s biggest fear about “uncovering” the USFSPA – scaring away potential recruits and potential career first-termers from signing up or staying on “for 20” !