Disability Retired Lists (TDRL / PDRL)

A servicemember with fewer than 20 years of service are placed on either a temporary or permanent disability retired list if he/she is:

Is unfit for service, and
Has a 30% or greater disability rating.

Temporary Disability Retired List (TDRL)

See 10 U.S. Code §§1202 & 1205. Intended for servicemembers whose medical conditions may only be temporary.

A servicemember can remain on the TDRL for up to five years, with medical evaluations every 18 months to determine whether

The disability has stabilized and become permanent, or
The servicemember is then fit to return to active duty.

After being on the TDRL for five years, a servicemember who remains unfit for duty is either:

Retired for longevity, if eligible (i.e. 20 years of service),
Put on the Permanent Disability Retired List if he/she has under 20 years of service,
Medically separated with severance pay if the disability is under 30%. The severance pay is typically calculated by multiplying years of active service by twice the servicemember's monthly base pay at the time of removal from teh TDRL. (For the complete calculation guidelines, see the DOD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7B, Chapter 11, Section 110201.)

Note that time on the TDRL does NOT count towards the longevity retirement. So a servicemember with 17 years of service who is placed on the TDRL, and remains there for five years, still has just 17 years of creditable service, not 22 years, so cannot receive the normal 20-year retirement.

Permanent Disability Retired List (PDRL)

See 10 U.S. Code §§ 1201 & 1204. It's intended for servicemembers who meet the following criteria:

The medical condition is permanent,
The disability is at least 30%, and
The servicemember has fewer than 20 years of service.

The amount of disability retirement is calculated by taking what the servicemember's retired pay would have been, and multiplying it by either (1) the years of service times 2.5%, or (2) 75%, at the servicemember's option. DOD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7B, Chapter 3, Section 030102.

TDRL/PDRL Payment Amounts

While on TDRL, a servicemember's pay is calculated using one of two methods: (1) the "longevity" method, which is years of service x 2.5% x monthly base pay (i.e. the same formula as military retirement), or (2) the "disability rating" method, which is monthly base pay x disability percentage (max 75%). The servicemember may choose the most favorable method. 10 U.S.C. § 1401.

As an example, if a servicemember had exactly 20 years of service, his TDRL/PDRL payments would be 50% of his base pay. So if that servicemember's disability rating was below 50%, then the "longevity" method would pay more, and if his disability rating was over 50%, then "disability rating" method would pay more.

Treatment of TDRL or PDRL in a Divorce

TDRL and PDRL payments are not divisible by the divorce court in Colorado. But it's not really as simple as that sounds.

If a servicemember with under 20 years of service is placed on the TDRL, the Colorado Court of Appeals held that the spouse is not entitled to a share of the payments. In re: the Marriage of Williamson, 205 P.2d 538 (Colo. App. 2009).

The Williamson court ruled that all of the servicemember's pay which is based upon the member's disability is excluded from division. Because in that case the servicemember had fewer than 20 years of service, he was not eligible for a normal retirement. But for the servicemember's disability, he would not have been eligible to receive any benefits. Therefore, all of his pay was due to the disability, and therefore his entire disability pay was excluded from division.

The situation involving a servicemember with more than 20 years of service is more complicated. The same rule applies - the portion of the TDRL payments which are received due to the disability are not divisible. In re: the Marriage of Poland, 10CA1158 (Colo. App. 2011).

The amount attributable to disability is calculated by using the "disability rating" method above (disability rating x monthly base pay), and to the extent there is any surplus (i.e. the "longevity" method pays more), that surplus is attributable to the service, not the disability, and is therefore divisible.

If a servicemember's disability rating is 30% or 40%, then the "longevity" method of calculating payments would always pay more. If the disability rating is 50% or higher, then the most favorable method depends upon how many years of service the servicemember has.

Why is TDRL/PDRL treated differently from VA disability payments, for which the servicemember may owe indemnity? The Poland court highlighted what it termed a "materially different" fact: a servicemember is "placed" on TDRL/PDRL, which means he/she is not voluntarily defeating the spouse's interest in the retirement. However, a retiree can only receive VA disability paymetns by voluntarily applying for them, which means that the retiree would voluntarily be defeating the spouse's share.

However, as with other non-divisible payments, such as social security, even if the disability payments still count as income to the former servicemember for purposes of determining maintenance and child support.