Military retirement benefits are a property right and are considered to be a marital asset, unlike alimony, which is a financial obligation. The state courts of Florida are authorized to divide the military retirement benefits in a divorce proceeding according to the following formula.
They take the number of year of credible military service during the marriage, divide that by the total number of years at the time of retirement, and then divide that number by two to exact a percentage. For example, if it’s a five year marriage and the service member serves out the full twenty years, it would be five divided by 20, resulting in a 25% marital portion, and that would be divided by two. The recipient’s portion would then be 12.5% of the military retirement.
