Ask a servicemember their income and they will often quote base pay. Ask DFAS and you get a different number. Ask a Florida family court — calculating child support or alimony — and the answer is different again, and larger: Florida counts military compensation in full, including the tax-free allowances that can add a thousand dollars or more to the monthly picture. Getting the income number right is the foundation of every military support case, and both sides have a stake in its accuracy. The Law Office of John Vernon Moore, P.A. brings over 89 years of combined experience to support calculations for military families across the Space Coast.
The Rule: Allowances Are Income in Florida
Florida’s child support statute, § 61.30, defines gross income expansively — salary, bonuses, allowances, and in-kind benefits that reduce living expenses. Florida courts apply that language to military pay directly: Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) and Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) count as income for child support and alimony even though federal law exempts them from income tax. The logic is simple — they pay for housing and food, exactly what support exists to provide. The tax-free character actually cuts the other way: because no taxes come out, allowances convert to net income nearly dollar-for-dollar, making them worth more than equivalent taxable wages in the guidelines math.
Reading the LES: The Document That Decides the Case
The Leave and Earnings Statement is the military paystub, and it is where support cases are won or lost. The entitlements column captures base pay, BAH, BAS, and special pays — flight pay, dive pay, hazardous duty pay, sea pay, proficiency pays — all of which count. Watch for the items the LES understates or hides: bonuses (reenlistment and incentive bonuses are income, typically annualized or averaged, like the civilian bonuses covered on our bonuses and overtime page); BAH changes with PCS moves, promotions, and dependency status — the with-dependents and without-dependents rates differ meaningfully, and divorce itself can change the rate; members living in government quarters draw no BAH at all, raising the in-kind housing question courts resolve against understatement; and deployment pays — family separation allowance, hostile fire/imminent danger pay, and the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion, which makes even base pay temporarily tax-free and briefly boosts net income. Support orders should anticipate these fluctuations rather than freeze a deployment-inflated or garrison-deflated snapshot.
Alimony and the Military Paycheck
The same gross-up applies to alimony under Florida’s SB 1416 framework: the member’s ability to pay is measured on full compensation including allowances, and the 35%-of-net-income-difference cap runs on real numbers, not base pay. Two military wrinkles deserve attention. Retired members’ retired pay interacts with alimony in ways that must be coordinated with the property division, and VA disability compensation — though not divisible as property — is income for support purposes, a distinction that surprises both sides. For the receiving spouse, allowance-inclusive calculations often move alimony from marginal to meaningful; for the paying member, accuracy protections matter — averaging periods, true-up provisions, and modification triggers when BAH-heavy compensation changes with the next set of orders.
Both Sides of the Accuracy Fight
For the civilian spouse: demand the full LES history — twelve months minimum, capturing a PCS or deployment cycle — not summaries, and check the financial affidavit against it line by line; base-pay-only affidavits are the most common military support error, and it is rarely innocent twice. For the servicemember: claim what the law allows — deductions for the support of other dependents, recognition that some pays end with the deployment or billet that generated them, and orders drafted so support tracks compensation rather than its high-water mark. Under § 61.30, the guidelines then run as in any Florida case — overnights, health insurance, and childcare adjustments included — with collection through allotment or DFAS garnishment once ordered. With over 89 years of combined experience, our team has audited enough LES files to know where the money hides on both sides of the ledger.
Is BAH really income even though I never see it as cash I control?
Yes — Florida counts it because it pays your housing costs, freeing other income. Whether you rent in Palm Bay at less than your BAH rate or live in quarters drawing none, courts measure the compensation value, and in-kind housing is imputed rather than ignored.
My spouse deploys soon and their pay will jump. Does support increase?
Deployment pays count as income, but courts distinguish temporary spikes from sustained compensation. Well-drafted orders average income over a representative period or include adjustment mechanisms, rather than locking either a peak or a valley into a multi-year order.
What happens to support when a PCS changes BAH?
BAH varies by duty station ZIP code, so a PCS can move monthly income by hundreds of dollars. A change substantial enough to move the guideline amount by 15% or $50 supports a modification — in either direction. The LES after the move tells the story.
Does the 50/50 timesharing presumption change military support?
Timesharing changes the guideline math at 20% of overnights, military or not — but deployment-heavy schedules complicate actual overnight counts. Orders for military families should address how support operates during deployments when the parenting schedule is suspended; see parenting during deployment.
Support Built on the Real Numbers
Military support cases are won at the level of the LES line item. The Law Office of John Vernon Moore, P.A. builds accurate support cases for servicemembers and spouses throughout Melbourne, Patrick Space Force Base, Palm Bay, Viera, and Titusville. See also military child support, then call (321) 529-7777 or schedule a consultation.