Military marriages face distinct pressures that civilian couples never encounter, frequent deployments, extended separations, relocations across the country, and the constant stress of service obligations. These unique circumstances create specific divorce patterns in military marriages that differ substantially from civilian divorce trends. For service members stationed in South Dakota or military families who call the state home, understanding how South Dakota divorce law intersects with federal military protections becomes essential when marriages end.
Divorce Rates Among Military Families
Research into divorce patterns in military marriages reveals surprising findings that challenge common assumptions about how military service affects marital stability.
Current Military Divorce Statistics
In 2022, approximately 19,689 Active Duty service members and 7,951 Reservists divorced, translating to roughly 3% of married Active Duty members and 2.5% of married Reservists. These percentages have remained relatively consistent over the past decade, with annual divorce rates for married service members ranging between 2.8-3.6% for Active Duty and 2.6-3.1% for Reservists since 2010.
These rates prove higher than the civilian population, where the divorce rate stood at 0.014% in 2022. The elevated divorce rate among members of the military reflects the unique stresses military families face, though the difference isn't as dramatic as many might expect.
Unexpected Research Findings
UCLA and RAND Corporation researchers reviewed personnel records of more than half a million married U.S. military service members who served between 2002 and 2005, seeking to understand how deployment affects divorce risk. The results surprised researchers and the public alike.
Deployment appeared to lower the risk of divorce for military couples. Except for active duty officers and Air Force personnel, longer periods of deployment were associated with greater marital stability across all sectors.
Researchers speculated this might result partly from additional support military families receive in areas like child care, health care, and housing assistance, which may help offset deployment stress. Financial stability provided through military benefits, guaranteed income during deployment, and comprehensive family support programs may protect military marriages from some economic pressures that strain civilian relationships.
Why Military Marriages Still Face Higher Divorce Risk
Despite these protective factors, military marriages experience higher divorce rates than civilian marriages for several reasons. Frequent relocations disrupt spousal careers, making it difficult for military spouses to maintain consistent employment and career progression. Extended separations during deployments strain emotional connections and create communication challenges.
The stress of military service itself, including combat exposure, injuries, PTSD, and the constant readiness requirements, takes a toll on relationships. Reintegration after deployment presents its own challenges as couples adjust to being together again after months apart.
Since September 11, 2001, military deployments have been longer and more frequent than at any time since the Vietnam War, subjecting military families to burdens that others don't face. Many marriages crumble beneath this weight despite available support services.
South Dakota Residency Requirements for Military Divorce
Service members and military spouses benefit from flexible residency requirements when filing for divorce in South Dakota.
Meeting the Residency Threshold
To file for divorce in South Dakota, at least one spouse must be a resident of South Dakota or a member of the military stationed in South Dakota at the time of filing. Unlike many states that require months or even a year of residency, South Dakota allows military personnel stationed in the state to establish residency immediately.
You must be a resident "in good faith," meaning you intend to make South Dakota your home rather than maintaining residency elsewhere while temporarily stationed in the state. However, there's no specific length of residency or waiting period before beginning divorce proceedings.
Jurisdiction During Deployment
You do not have to be living in South Dakota during divorce proceedings to be granted a divorce. This provision particularly benefits service members who file for divorce in South Dakota but then receive deployment orders or transfer orders to other locations before the divorce finalizes.
South Dakota courts maintain jurisdiction over divorce cases even when service members deploy or relocate, provided the residency requirement was met when the filing began.
Grounds for Divorce for Military Couples
Service members use the same grounds for divorce as civilian couples in South Dakota, with no special military-specific grounds.
No-Fault Divorce Option
South Dakota recognizes no-fault divorce based on irreconcilable differences, meaning there are substantial reasons for the marriage to end. To obtain a divorce on this ground, both spouses must agree to the irreconcilable differences ground, or the spouse served with divorce papers must not appear in the case.
Most military divorces proceed on no-fault grounds, as this avoids the need to prove specific misconduct and generally results in less contentious proceedings.
Fault-Based Grounds
South Dakota also recognizes fault-based grounds for divorce that military couples may cite:
- Adultery occurs when one spouse has sexual relations with someone else after marriage. Military culture and extended separations create opportunities for infidelity that strain marriages.
- Extreme cruelty includes serious physical injury or serious mental suffering. PTSD and combat-related stress can, unfortunately, manifest as cruelty within marriages.
- Willful desertion means one spouse leaves with the intent to end the marriage. Military deployment doesn't constitute desertion, but permanent abandonment of the marriage does.
- Willful neglect occurs when one spouse refuses to provide for common needs despite the ability to do so. Financial irresponsibility by either the service member or spouse qualifies.
- Habitual intemperance means being under alcohol influence so often it prevents managing normal activities or causes intense emotional distress. Substance abuse issues affect some service members dealing with service-related stress.
- Conviction of a felony during the marriage provides grounds. Courts-martial convictions for felony-level offenses qualify under this ground.
Federal Protections Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) provides important protections for service members involved in divorce proceedings, affecting timelines and court procedures.
SCRA's Core Protections
The SCRA recognizes that military service obligations may prevent service members from fully participating in legal proceedings. These protections ensure service members aren't disadvantaged by their duty to serve.
Military divorces must comply with federal laws like the SCRA, which can affect timelines and proceedings in South Dakota divorce cases involving service members.
Postponing Divorce Proceedings
Under the SCRA, service members can request postponement of court hearings and legal proceedings when military duties prevent their attendance. If a service member receives deployment orders or cannot attend court due to military obligations, they can request a stay (postponement) of proceedings.
Courts generally must grant at least one stay of at least 90 days when a service member makes a proper application showing that military duty prevents attendance and explaining how they would defend the case if able to appear.
This protection ensures service members deployed overseas or unable to travel due to military orders don't face default judgments simply because they cannot physically appear in South Dakota courts.
Setting Aside Default Judgments
If a default judgment gets entered against a service member who was prevented from participating due to military service, the SCRA allows requesting that the court set aside (void) the default judgment.
Service members have 90 days after release from military service to apply to reopen default judgments if they can show their military service prevented their defense, and they have a meritorious defense to present.
Division of Military Retirement Benefits
Military retirement pay represents one of the most valuable assets in many military divorces, requiring special handling under federal and state law.
The Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act
Military married couples who decide to file for divorce are affected by the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act (USFSPA), enacted in September 1982. This federal law doesn't automatically give former spouses a portion of military retired pay. Rather, it permits individual states to treat military disposable retired pay as marital property subject to division in divorce actions.
South Dakota, like most states, treats military retirement as marital property subject to equitable distribution when earned during the marriage.
Defining Disposable Retired Pay
The USFSPA defines "disposable retired pay" as gross retired pay minus amounts owed to the government for previous overpayments, forfeitures adjudged by court-martial, pay waived to receive VA disability payments, and Survivor Benefit Plan premiums.
A former spouse cannot receive any portion of a service member's disability pay. The maximum amount of retired pay income a former spouse can receive is 50% of disposable retirement pay.
The 10/10/10 Rule for Direct Payment
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) office pays the former spouse a share of military retirement pay directly if at least 10 years of the couple's marriage overlapped 10 years of "credible military service."
When DFAS receives a valid court order meeting requirements, it must start direct payments to the former spouse within 90 days. In marriages lasting less than 10 years, the military spouse must pay their former spouse directly; DFAS won't send payments to the former spouse.
Proper Court Order Language
The court order must be drafted very specifically to reallocate the military spouse's retirement pay to a former spouse. The portion of retirement pay the ex-spouse receives must be part of the court order and expressed in dollars or as a percentage of disposable retired pay.
The proportion of military retirement constituting marital property before retirement can be defined as a fraction. The numerator represents the total number of months or years the parties were married during the member's military service, divided by the total number of months or years of the member's military service.
A typical court order might read: "The spouse shall receive 50% of the marital share of the service member's disposable retired pay. The marital share is the fraction where the numerator is [X] months of marriage during the service member's creditable military service, divided by the total number of months of the member's creditable military service."
How Disability Pay Affects Division
Disability pay gets deducted before disposable retirement pay is determined. The former spouse receives only a portion of disposable retirement pay. Service members could potentially increase disability pay amounts, which may consequently reduce what former spouses receive in retirement pay.
This creates tension in military divorces, as service members legitimately entitled to disability benefits for service-related injuries may reduce the retirement pay available for the division.
Military Benefits Available to Former Spouses
Beyond retirement pay, former spouses may qualify for various military benefits depending on the length of marriage and its overlap with military service.
The 20/20/20 Rule
If the service member served a minimum of 20 credible years, the couple was married a minimum of 20 years, and the marriage overlapped the period of service by at least 20 years, the former spouse can continue receiving full benefits.
These benefits include full health care as long as they don't remarry or have employer-sponsored health plans, plus commissary and post/base exchange privileges. These benefits provide substantial value, particularly health care coverage that might otherwise prove expensive.
The 20/20/15 Rule
If the marriage lasted 20 years and the service member served 20 credible years in the military, but only 15 years overlap between the two, the former spouse qualifies for one year of health benefits as long as they don't remarry and don't have employer-sponsored health insurance.
After the year expires, a 20/20/15 spouse may purchase health insurance through the Department of Defense. They're also entitled to commissary and exchange privileges only for one year after divorce.
Former Spouses Not Meeting Thresholds
A former military spouse who doesn't meet 20/20/20 or 20/20/15 criteria isn't eligible for any health benefits but may qualify for the Department of Defense Continued Health Care Benefit Program, a premium-based temporary health care coverage program offering 36 months of coverage until alternative coverage can be obtained.
You must enroll within 60 days of losing full military health care benefits to access this program.
Survivor Benefit Plan Considerations
The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) allows retired service members to provide a continued income to named beneficiaries after the retiree's death, creating important divorce considerations.
How SBP Works
SBP is an annuity that allows retired service members to provide a continued income to named beneficiaries in the event of the retiree's death. A retiring service member will be enrolled in SBP unless they decline to participate.
If divorce occurs after retirement and the service member had initially elected to participate when retiring, the divorce terminates the initial beneficiary designation in favor of the "spouse." However, coverage may continue in favor of a "former spouse" either voluntarily to honor an agreement between parties or to comply with a court order.
Election Requirements
The former spouse must elect "former spouse coverage" from the appropriate military finance center within one year of the date of the final divorce decree. This deadline is absolute, and missing it means losing SBP coverage permanently.
Former spouses may elect former spouse coverage independently by filing DD Form 2656-10 within one year of the military member's filing of DD Form 2656.
Premium and Tax Treatment
The premium is subsidized by the federal government and deducted straight from the service member's retirement funds, so payments aren't taxable. SBP payments are adjusted annually to account for inflation, providing inflation-protected income for surviving former spouses.
Child Support and Spousal Support for Military Families
Child support and spousal support don't require a specified length of marriage and aren't governed by the USFSPA, making them subject to standard South Dakota family law.
Child Support Calculations
South Dakota uses child support guidelines based on both parents' incomes and the number of children. Military pay, including base pay, housing allowances, and other regular compensation, counts as income for child support calculations.
Noncustodial parents called to active duty may experience sudden income changes, interfering with their ability to make scheduled child support payments. Similarly, custodial parents called to active duty may need additional support to provide for children during deployment periods.
Modification During Active Duty
Military parents experiencing income changes from being called to active duty for more than 30 days can request a review and modification of child support. This applies to parents who pay child support and those who receive it.
Military parents with past-due child support can ask to have past-due amounts adjusted. Service members who had income withheld for past-due child support may reduce future withholdings by having past-due amounts adjusted.
Wage Garnishment for Support
Federal law permits wage garnishment of federal employee earnings, including military salary, retirement earnings, and pension benefits, under certain circumstances. Divorced spouses may obtain wage garnishment from their spouse's military wages and benefits.
Wage garnishment may go toward court-ordered alimony or child support. Federal law allows wage garnishment up to 50% from a veteran's disposable earnings if they've remarried and currently support a new spouse or child. If the veteran doesn't have a new spouse or child, wage garnishment up to 65% may occur.
This doesn't mean ordered amounts cannot exceed 65% of disposable retirement pay, only that amounts above 65% won't be collected by DFAS and must be collected directly from the service member.
Military Thrift Savings Plan Division
The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a federal government-sponsored retirement savings and investment plan independent of the military retirement account.
TSP as a Divisible Asset
TSP offers employees and members of uniformed services the same types of savings and tax benefits that many private corporations offer employees under 401(k) plans. Retirement benefits court orders regarding the division of these accounts may be issued at any stage of divorce, annulment, or legal separation proceedings.
Courts could award specific dollar amounts or percentages of the account to former spouses or dependents as of specific past or current dates.
Handling TSP in Divorce
Like civilian 401(k) plans, TSP accounts get divided according to court orders specifying exact amounts or percentages. These divisions typically don't trigger tax consequences if properly structured, allowing tax-deferred growth to continue in both accounts after the division.
Social Security Benefits for Divorced Military Spouses
Divorced military spouses may still be eligible to receive Social Security benefits earned by ex-spouses during employment or military service.
Eligibility Criteria
The criteria to receive Social Security benefits earned by ex-spouses depend on whether the ex-spouse is currently alive or deceased. If deceased, an ex-spouse who hasn't remarried and is at least 62 years old may collect Social Security benefits if the couple's marriage lasted at least 10 years.
Even if the service member is still living, a divorced spouse who was married at least 10 years can claim Social Security benefits based on the ex-spouse's earnings record, provided they're at least 62 years old, currently unmarried, and their own benefit would be lower than the benefit based on the ex-spouse's record.
Custody Challenges for Deployed Parents
Military service creates unique child custody challenges that civilian parents never face, particularly around deployment and relocation.
Deployment's Impact on Custody
When a custodial parent faces deployment, questions arise about temporary custody during the deployment period. Courts generally prefer that deployed parents maintain their custody rights with temporary arrangements during deployment rather than permanent custody modifications.
Many states have enacted laws preventing deployment itself from serving as grounds for permanent custody modification, recognizing that temporary military absence shouldn't permanently harm parent-child relationships.
Relocation Issues
Military families face frequent relocations as service members receive orders to new duty stations. When parents are divorced or divorcing, one parent's relocation orders can trigger custody disputes.
South Dakota courts examine whether relocation serves the child's best interests, considering factors like the reason for the move, impact on the child's relationship with each parent, and opportunities available at the new location.
Support Resources for Military Families
Numerous resources exist to support military families navigating divorce, helping offset some unique challenges members of the military face.
Military OneSource
Military OneSource serves as the gateway to programs and services supporting the everyday needs of service members and immediate family members of the military community. This comprehensive resource offers confidential support 24/7.
Services include career counseling for military spouses facing career disruptions from divorce, financial advice to help manage the economic impact of divorce, and free training programs to build job skills.
Financial Support Services
Several programs help military families experiencing financial difficulties during divorce. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act contains provisions helping protect service members called to active duty.
Interest rate reductions can limit interest on mortgages, credit cards, car loans, and other pre-service debts to a maximum 6% per year during active military service. Eviction protections prevent dependents of active service members from being evicted during active duty periods.
Counseling and Mental Health Services
Both spouses in military divorces may experience negative impacts on well-being, with divorce linked to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and even suicide. Military families have access to confidential counseling services through military installations and Military OneSource.
Peer support groups specifically for spouses navigating divorce provide emotional support from others who understand military life's unique pressures.
Legal Assistance
Military legal assistance offices provide free legal advice to active duty service members and sometimes to spouses on family law matters, including divorce. While these attorneys cannot represent service members in civilian courts, they can explain rights, review documents, and provide valuable guidance.
Moving Forward After Military Divorce
Divorce patterns in military marriages reflect both the unique stresses military families face and the substantial support systems available to help them through difficult times. While military couples divorce at somewhat higher rates than civilians, the difference isn't as dramatic as commonly assumed, and deployment itself may actually strengthen some military marriages.
For service members and military spouses facing divorce in South Dakota, understanding how state divorce law intersects with federal military protections, how to divide military retirement and benefits, and what support resources are available helps navigate the process more effectively.
Whether you're a service member filing for divorce, a military spouse responding to divorce papers, or either party trying to reach fair agreements about property division, child custody, or spousal support, working with attorneys experienced in military divorce ensures your rights under both South Dakota law and federal military protections are fully protected.
The combination of flexible residency requirements, protections under the SCRA, established rules for dividing military retirement, and comprehensive support services available through military channels provides a framework for military families to navigate divorce while protecting both parties' interests and ensuring service members can continue fulfilling their duty to defend our nation.