PROFESSIONAL MILITARY DIVORCE ASSISTANCE IN TELLER COUNTY
Moran, Allen & Associates Family Law represents service members, veterans, and military spouses living in Woodland Park and Teller County in divorce cases in the Fourth Judicial District. Call our Woodland Park office at (719) 686-7554 for a free consultation.
Key Takeaways
- A military divorce is a Colorado divorce with a federal layer: the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act, and DFAS rules.
- The SCRA allows a stay of proceedings of at least 90 days when duty prevents participation. It does not stop a divorce from being filed.
- Military retired pay is marital property in Colorado, but direct payment from DFAS requires ten years of marriage overlapping ten years of service.
- Survivor Benefit Plan elections carry a one-year deadline that cannot be extended.
ON THIS PAGE
- Teller County Military Families and Where They File
- Federal Protections That Affect Timing
- Dividing Military Retired Pay
- Survivor Benefit Plan Deadlines
- Parenting Plans and Deployment
- Support Calculations With Military Pay
- Benefits After Divorce
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Sources
TELLER COUNTY MILITARY FAMILIES AND WHERE THEY FILE
Many Woodland Park families are military families. One spouse serves at Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, or the Air Force Academy, and the family lives above the pass for the schools, the space, or the quiet. When that marriage ends, the case is a Colorado divorce with federal rules layered on top.
A Colorado court can grant a divorce when at least one spouse has been domiciled in the state for 91 days under C.R.S. § 14-10-106. A service member stationed in Colorado on orders may be domiciled here, or may have kept a legal residence in another state for tax and voting purposes. That question comes first, because it decides whether Colorado can hear the case at all and, separately, whether it has authority to divide the military pension.
For Woodland Park residents the case is normally filed in the Teller County Combined Court in Cripple Creek. When the service member's duty station, the children's school, and most witnesses are in El Paso County, venue may lie there instead. Both courts are in the Fourth Judicial District.
The detailed treatment of every federal issue is on our Colorado Springs military divorce page. This page covers what changes for a Teller County family.
FEDERAL PROTECTIONS THAT AFFECT TIMING
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act does not prevent a service member from being served with a divorce petition. It changes how the case can proceed when military duty gets in the way.
Under 50 U.S.C. § 3932, a service member on active duty, or within 90 days after release, can request a stay of proceedings. If the request shows how duty materially affects the ability to appear and when the member can appear, the court must grant a stay of at least 90 days. Additional stays are discretionary.
Under 50 U.S.C. § 3931, a court cannot enter a default judgment against a service member who has not appeared without first appointing counsel to represent that member's interests, and a default entered during service can be reopened.
For the civilian spouse, these rules mean the timeline is less predictable. Temporary orders for support, the home, and parenting time become more important because they may govern for longer. For the service member, the protections have to be invoked properly, with duty documentation, not simply by stating that one is in the military.
DIVIDING MILITARY RETIRED PAY
Colorado treats military retired pay earned during the marriage as marital property subject to equitable division under C.R.S. § 14-10-113. The Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act, 10 U.S.C. § 1408, is the federal law that lets a state court do that and lets DFAS pay the former spouse directly.
Three federal rules shape how the order must be written.
First, direct payment from DFAS requires the 10/10 rule: at least ten years of marriage overlapping at least ten years of creditable service. A former spouse who does not meet 10/10 can still be awarded a share; the member pays it directly rather than DFAS.
Second, DFAS will pay no more than 50 percent of disposable retired pay under a property division, or 65 percent when child support or maintenance is also being collected.
Third, under the frozen benefit rule enacted in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, the share awarded to a former spouse of a member who is still serving at the time of divorce is calculated on the member's rank and years of service at the date of divorce, not at retirement. The decree has to include the figures DFAS needs to apply that rule or DFAS will reject it.
A fourth issue is disability. When a retiree waives retired pay to receive VA disability compensation, the former spouse's share shrinks, and under Howell v. Howell, 137 S. Ct. 1400 (2017), a state court cannot order the retiree to make up the difference. Settlement language has to anticipate that possibility.
SURVIVOR BENEFIT PLAN DEADLINES
A share of retired pay ends when the retiree dies. The Survivor Benefit Plan is the annuity that continues payments to a former spouse after that, and it is the most commonly missed item in military divorces.
If the decree orders former-spouse SBP coverage, the member must submit the election to DFAS within one year of the divorce. If the member does not, the former spouse can file a deemed election directly with DFAS, also within one year of the decree. Miss both windows and the coverage is lost.
The decree should say who pays the premium, which is deducted from retired pay before division, and should address what happens if the former spouse remarries before age 55, which suspends the annuity.
PARENTING PLANS AND DEPLOYMENT
Colorado adopted the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, found at C.R.S. Title 14, Article 13.7. It allows a deploying parent to arrange temporary parenting time for the deployment period, including delegating time to a family member, and it prohibits the court from treating a deployment or a possible future deployment as a change in circumstances that justifies permanently modifying the parenting plan.
For a Woodland Park family, the parenting plan should already contain a deployment clause: how notice is given, what the interim schedule is, how virtual contact works, and how the regular schedule resumes on return. It should also handle the routine version of military life: training rotations, extended duty, and PCS orders, layered on top of U.S. 24 weather and school-year logistics.
SUPPORT CALCULATIONS WITH MILITARY PAY
Military compensation is more than base pay. The Leave and Earnings Statement shows Basic Allowance for Housing, Basic Allowance for Subsistence, special and incentive pays, bonuses, and allotments. Colorado courts include housing and subsistence allowances in gross income for child support and maintenance, even though they are not taxed.
That means a support calculation built from a W-2 alone understates a service member's income. Several months of LES records, not one, are the right evidence, especially when deployment pay or a duty station change has altered the numbers. Our Woodland Park child support page covers the guideline calculation, including the March 1, 2026 changes.
BENEFITS AFTER DIVORCE
A former spouse who meets the 20/20/20 rule, twenty years of marriage overlapping twenty years of service, keeps full TRICARE, commissary, and exchange privileges after divorce. A former spouse who meets 20/20/15 keeps TRICARE for one year. Everyone else loses military health coverage at the decree and may be eligible for the Continued Health Care Benefit Program for a limited period.
Children remain eligible for TRICARE and installation access regardless of the divorce. A civilian spouse in Woodland Park should plan for the loss of coverage before the decree, not after.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT MILITARY DIVORCE IN WOODLAND PARK
Can a Colorado Court Divorce Us If My Spouse Is Stationed Here but Claims Another State as Home?
Often yes, if you have been domiciled in Colorado for 91 days. Dividing the military pension is a separate question; federal law requires the court to have jurisdiction over the member through residence, domicile, or consent. That is a first-consultation issue.
Can My Spouse Use the SCRA to Stop the Divorce?
No. The SCRA allows a stay of at least 90 days when duty materially affects the ability to participate, and further stays at the court's discretion. It delays; it does not prevent.
We Were Married Eight Years. Do I Get Part of the Retirement?
You can be awarded a share of the marital portion of the retired pay. Because the marriage is under ten years, DFAS will not pay you directly, and the decree has to require the member to pay you.
What Is the Frozen Benefit Rule?
For divorces since December 23, 2016 where the member is still serving, the former spouse's share is calculated on the member's rank and years of service at the date of divorce, adjusted for cost of living, rather than on the higher retired pay the member eventually earns.
Will Deployment Cost Me Parenting Time Permanently?
Colorado's deployed parents statute prohibits the court from treating deployment as grounds for a permanent modification. The temporary arrangement ends when you return.
SOURCES
- Colorado General Assembly, Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 14, Domestic Matters (C.R.S. §§ 14-10-106, 14-10-113, 14-10-115; Article 13.7)
- U.S. Department of Justice, Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Summary
- Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act
- Military OneSource, Rights and Benefits of Divorced Spouses in the Military
- Colorado Judicial Branch, Teller County Combined Court