Denver Military Divorce Attorneys for Service Members and Spouses

A military divorce is a Colorado divorce first: the same courts, the same 91 day clocks, the same equitable division and best-interests standards. Layered on top is a set of federal statutes that most family lawyers touch rarely and get wrong often, covering the retirement, the timing, the benefits, and even what counts as income.

Whether you are the service member or the spouse, the costliest mistakes in these cases are quiet ones: a deadline missed on a survivor benefit election, a retirement divided on the wrong number, a stay invoked or ignored at the wrong moment. This page covers where those mistakes live.

How we help

• Dividing military retired pay under the federal USFSPA, and what the 2017 federal changes mean for still-serving members
• The 10/10 rule explained honestly: it controls how payment is made, not whether retirement can be divided
• Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protections and timing when a party is on active duty
• Survivor Benefit Plan elections and deadlines that quietly decide the value of everything else
• Support calculations that treat military pay and allowances correctly
• Continued benefits questions for former spouses, including the 20/20/20 framework

Dividing Military Retirement: The Rules Behind the Folklore

The federal Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act lets Colorado courts divide military retired pay as marital property. The most repeated myth in this field is the 10/10 rule: ten years of marriage overlapping ten years of service. It does not decide whether retirement can be divided. It only decides whether the government pays the former spouse directly; in shorter marriages the retirement is still divisible, and payment simply routes differently.

For members still serving at the time of divorce, federal law changed in 2017: the divisible amount is now fixed by the member's pay and service as of the decree, not the higher figure at eventual retirement. That change moved real money, and orders drafted on pre-2017 assumptions get it wrong.

• VA disability compensation is generally not divisible as property, and elections that convert retired pay into disability pay can change what a former spouse receives.
• Thrift Savings Plan accounts divide separately from the pension, with their own order requirements.
• The Survivor Benefit Plan decides whether payments outlive the member. Elections carry strict deadlines, and a divorce decree alone does not make them happen.

Timing and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act

Active duty service can pause a case. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act allows a service member whose duties materially prevent participation to request a stay of proceedings, and courts take those requests seriously. It is a shield for people serving, not a permanent veto, and cases resume when participation is possible.

Jurisdiction adds its own wrinkle: a member stationed in Colorado is not automatically domiciled here. Which state's courts can divide the retirement is its own analysis, and it is worth doing before anyone files anywhere.

Support Math With Military Pay

Military compensation is more than base pay, and Colorado support calculations typically account for allowances alongside it. Getting the income number right matters twice, because it drives both child support and maintenance, and a Leave and Earnings Statement does not read like a civilian pay stub. We work from the actual documents, not approximations of them.

Benefits After the Decree

Former spouse benefits follow their own federal frameworks, including the 20/20/20 rule for continued health care and base privileges after long overlapping marriages. Where a family falls short of those thresholds, transitional options may exist, and the decree should be drafted knowing which side of each line the family sits on.

Local courts and where to file

Buckley Space Force Base sits in Arapahoe County, which puts many metro military families in the 18th Judicial District courthouse in Centennial; the rest of the metro courthouse map is on our divorce page. Colorado courts see military cases regularly, and parenting plans here can and should carry deployment-specific provisions written in advance.

Last updated August 2026.