Sometimes — but not automatically, and not for every kind of payment. CRSC "is not retired pay," so it can't be divided as marital property the way a pension is. But whether electing it actually lowers what your former spouse receives depends on how your divorce decree is worded — and it does nothing to shield court-ordered child support or alimony. Below is the whole picture, honestly.
First — what CRSC actually is
Combat-Related Special Compensation is special compensation under 10 U.S.C. § 1413a for retirees whose disabilities are combat-related. Two features drive everything on this page: it's federally tax-free, and — critically — the statute says in plain words that "compensation under this section is not retired pay" (§ 1413a(g)). That single phrase is why a divorce court treats CRSC differently from your pension.
How a court divides military retirement in the first place
Under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act (USFSPA, 10 U.S.C. § 1408), a state divorce court can treat your disposable retired pay as marital property and award your former spouse a share — most often a percentage. Notice the exact words: disposable retired pay. In Mansell v. Mansell (Supreme Court, 1989), the Court held that any retired pay you waive to receive VA disability compensation is not part of disposable retired pay — so it sits outside what a court is allowed to divide.
Where CRSC changes the math
To receive CRSC, you first waive retired pay dollar-for-dollar to take VA compensation — the "VA waiver." That waiver shrinks the disposable-retired-pay pool your former spouse's percentage comes from. CRSC then restores those same dollars to you as separate, tax-free compensation that — because it "is not retired pay" — a court cannot divide as property.
Then the Supreme Court went one step further. In Howell v. Howell (2017), it held that a state court cannot order a veteran to reimburse ("indemnify") a former spouse for the drop in her share caused by a post-divorce VA waiver. So if her award is written as a percentage of disposable retired pay, electing the VA waiver and CRSC can lawfully reduce — sometimes all the way to zero — what DFAS pays her directly, and the court can't order you to make up the difference from other money.
The fork that trips everyone up: CRSC vs. CRDP
People hear "disability pay is protected in divorce" and assume it covers both concurrent-receipt benefits. It does not. Only CRSC is excluded from division. CRDP is fully divisible.
You can't collect both — DFAS pays whichever is higher, and you elect once a year. That's the catch: a retiree sitting on CRDP whose ex shares the pension gets no protection from CRDP, because CRDP is divisible. Only moving into the CRSC bucket changes what's divisible — and only if your conditions are combat-related and you actually qualify.
Four situations where "making it CRSC" does NOT end the obligation
This is where retirees get burned taking forum advice. Making a benefit CRSC shields it from property division only. It does not touch these:
- It's child support or alimony, not a property division. CRSC can be garnished for court-ordered child support and alimony (42 U.S.C. § 659). Courts can also count it as income when setting support, and it can be reached by Treasury offset for a federal debt. The "not retired pay" shield blocks property division — not support.
- Your decree awards a fixed dollar amount instead of a percentage of disposable retired pay. A judge can enforce a set-dollar award against your other assets. Howell blocks "pay her from your VA money" orders — not every workaround a court can reach for.
- You're actually on CRDP, not CRSC. CRDP is divisible, so nothing changes until you qualify for and elect CRSC instead.
- The disability isn't combat-related. No combat-related rating means no CRSC to elect in the first place.
The honest bottom line
If your former spouse's award is a percentage of your pension and your disabilities are combat-related, filing for and electing CRSC can legitimately lower — or end — the property share DFAS pays her, and a court can't force you to pay it back. If she's owed child support or alimony, or her award is a fixed sum, CRSC generally won't change that. Every decree is worded differently, and that wording controls the result.
Standfast Veterans Group prepares CRSC packets. We are not a law firm, and we do not give legal, tax, or divorce advice. How your specific decree interacts with CRSC is a legal question that turns on your exact court order and your state's law. Take this page to a qualified military-divorce attorney before making any move — electing or switching CRSC/CRDP to affect a property or support obligation can carry consequences a lawyer needs to weigh with you.
Where Standfast fits
Here's our lane, and only our lane: we help combat-injured retirees win the strongest CRSC award they're entitled to — the tax-free monthly benefit, plus any backpay reaching back to the date of eligibility. Whether CRSC also affects a divorce order is a question for your attorney. What we do is make sure the CRSC side is built right, filed right, and maximized. If you're a retiree trying to understand what you're owed, that's a conversation we're glad to have — vet to vet, no pressure.
CRSC help for your branch
Every branch routes Combat-Related Special Compensation through a different board. Get the filing details and packet help for yours:
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