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.

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. Once 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.

Treatment of TDRL or PDRL in a Divorce

TDRL and PDRL payments are not divisible by the divorce court in Colorado!

This may appear strange, especially since a retiree who, after the divorce, begins to receive VA disability and has to indemnify his/her spouse for the reduction in retired pay due to the VA Waiver. But the Colorado Court of Appeals held that the spouse was not entitled to a share of the servicemember's TDRL payments. In re: 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 20-year 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.

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