Thanks for the chance to help. I am an attorney with over 12 years military law experience.

The law that covers this is the Former Spouse Protection Act.

This federal law allows the state divorce court to "divide" military retired pay (prior to the FSPA this was not possible at all). The FSPA permits, but does not require, a state court to award a share of retired pay. Its something that divorce courts had been doing for years with other pensions...the FSPA made it possible to treat a military pension the same as any other pension.

The court typically will award a portion of the retired pay based on the number of years of Marriage during which the retired pay was earned, divided by the total years of service. If the spouses were married for at least ten years while the member was on active duty, the non-military spouse will qualify for direct enforcement, which means that his or her portion of the retired pay will be paid to him or her directly by the military finance office.

So there is not a set right to a specific amount or for a specific time...that is up to the court.

For TRICARE if you have 20 years of marriage during service, you will qualify as a 20/20 spouse which gets your spouse TRICARE coverage and commissary and PX benefits after your divorce.