Should Determination of Military Benefits Be Done in Terms of Points Rather Than Years

In Marriage of Beckman, 800 P.2d 1376 (Colo. App.1990) the Supreme Court of Colorado remanded a matter for a determination of whether the computation of military benefits earned through both active and reserve duty was more appropriately based on a point system rather than on a system based on years. Therein, the court stated: The military benefit is based on points which are converted into years of service. Since the basis of years of credited service is points, the coverture fraction for military benefits must be determined in terms of points rather than years, as is normally the case. Use of a simple years of service computation rather than recognition of the point system will, in some situations lead to inequitable conclusions. the greatest potential for distortion of the marital share of the benefit occurs in situations where the member of the military retirement system switches from regular component to reserve component service. Id. at 1379-80, quoting W. Troyan, "Procedures for Evaluating Retirement Entitlements Under Non-ERISA, Retirement Systems for Marriage Dissolution Actions," 3 J.P. McCahey, ed., Valuation & Distribution of Marital Property 46.34(1) (1990).