"We weren't married ten years, so I get nothing from his pension." I hear this from military spouses across Northeast Florida more than almost anything else — and it's not true.
With NAS Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport both here in Duval County, and Camp Blanding just down the road in Clay County, military families make up a huge part of who I represent in Jacksonville, Orange Park, Green Cove Springs, St. Augustine, and Fernandina Beach. And almost every one of them has heard some version of the "10/10 rule" — usually the wrong version.
The Myth Everyone Repeats
The rumor spreads fast on military spouse forums and even in barracks conversation: if you weren't married for at least 10 years while your spouse served at least 10 years, the pension is off the table entirely. Spouses walk into my office believing they've already lost something they never actually lost.
"We were married 8 years, so I'm not entitled to any of his military retirement."
A Florida court can still divide the pension as marital property. The 10/10 rule only decides how you get paid — not whether you get paid.
Here's what's actually going on. Under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act (USFSPA), Florida courts are allowed to treat military retired pay earned during the marriage as a marital asset, subject to the same equitable distribution rules as any other retirement account. The 10/10 rule, found in the federal statute governing military pay, only controls one narrow thing: whether the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) will pay your share directly to you each month.
What the 10/10 Rule Actually Controls
Married & Served At Least 10 Overlapping Years
DFAS can pay your share of the retirement directly to you every month, separate from your former spouse.
Married Or Served Less Than 10 Overlapping Years
A court can still award you a share of the pension — your former spouse simply pays you directly instead of DFAS handling it automatically.
Walking away from a settlement believing you're owed nothing, when a share of that pension may legally be yours, is one of the most expensive mistakes I see military spouses make — and it's completely avoidable with the right guidance early on.
Married to someone stationed at NAS Jax, Mayport, or Camp Blanding? Don't assume you know where you stand until someone checks the numbers with you.
What SCRA Actually Protects — And What It Doesn't
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) is another rule I see misunderstood constantly. It does not pause a divorce indefinitely, and it does not let an active-duty spouse avoid a divorce altogether. What it does is allow an active-duty service member to request a stay — a pause of at least 90 days — if military duties genuinely prevent them from participating in the case. Courts can extend that further, but it's a shield against being blindsided while deployed, not a way to stall a divorce forever.
Deployment Doesn't Permanently Change Custody
Under Florida law (F.S. 61.13002), a deployment cannot, by itself, be used as the sole reason to permanently change a parenting plan. Courts can put a temporary schedule in place while a parent is deployed, but the pre-deployment time-sharing arrangement is expected to be restored once they return. If you're a military parent worried that saying yes to a deployment means losing your custody rights for good, that fear — while understandable — isn't how Florida law is supposed to work.
Whether you're active duty, a military spouse, or already separated, the details of your service record and marriage timeline change what you're entitled to.
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Military divorce has extra rules civilian divorces don't — and getting them wrong can cost you your share of a pension you're legally entitled to.