Military servicemembers receive various forms of pay.  A parent working with his/her divorce or child custody lawyer must be aware of the meaning and availability of those forms of pay.

1. Basic pay:   this is the servicemember’s pay, equivalent to a salary for civilian employees.
2. Basic allowance for housing (BAH):  military housing allowance based on the servicemember’s geographic location, pay grade, and amount of dependents.   BAH is designed to compensate servicemembers for differences in rent, utilities, etc. depending on their station.
3. Overseas housing allowance (OHA):   similar to BAH but for overseas stations.  If the member’s family remains in the US, however, the member may receive the OHA without dependents, as well as the BHA for the US location of the family.
4. Military retired pay.
5. Reserve pay.
6. Disability pay.
7. Other “special” or “bonus” pay may include hardship, hazardous duty, hospital fire, or pay related to specific activities or service areas, such as medical/dental, aviation, sea and submarine duty, and re-enlistment bonuses.

Always review the member’s Leave and Earnings Statement (LES) to determine the member’s actual pay from all sources.  In general, all sources of pay are available for child support.

Attorney David Kowalski has extensive experience representing military servicemembers and spouses.  Call Kowalski, Wilson & Vang, LLC for a free consultation.