Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART II— - PERSONNEL › Chapter CHAPTER 47— - UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER XII— - UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ARMED FORCES › § 945
Gives judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces the right to get a retirement annuity when they finish their term and leave civilian federal service. If a judge stays on as a senior judge, they are treated as still in service until that work ends. A judge who is eligible can choose this annuity instead of any other federal civilian annuity they could get at that time, and that choice cannot be changed. The annuity equals 80% of the pay for an active judge on that court at the time the judge separates. The Defense Secretary must tell the Office of Personnel Management when a judge makes this choice. OPM figures the lump-sum credit owed under the other federal systems, and the Treasury moves that amount from the Civil Service fund to the Department of Defense Military Retirement Fund using interest rules the law sets. The Defense Department must set up survivor and former-spouse benefits similar to other federal civilian systems, and it may allow someone to reduce their own annuity to pay for survivor benefits. Cost-of-living increases must be applied periodically, like other federal retirement plans. If a person drawing this annuity later becomes a lifetime federal judge and then retires, they may choose at that retirement to take either this annuity or the annuity/salary from the later judicial service (that choice is final and can end prior survivor elections). Payments come from the Defense Military Retirement Fund. A special rule also lets some judges with earlier Civil Service service make a Federal Employees’ Retirement System election as if they were reemployed.
Full Legal Text
Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
10 U.S.C. § 945
Title 10 — Armed Forces
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73