What Is The Process Of Divorcing Someone In The Military?
Military divorces can get a bit more complicated due to some differences in military life. Although a military divorce may be handled like an ordinary divorce in court, it can be affected and made more complicated as military lives are different in many ways. If you are going ahead with a military divorce, the question you should be asking yourself is “How you can protect yourself during a military divorce?”
The first thing to remember is that military families move all over the world. This can complicate the process of filing for divorce, since you may not be residing at your “home”, or domicile state, which is the legal term used for a place that is considered home. You may not be living there currently, but you plan to return back to your “home” in the future. Your domicile may help determine where you can file for divorce. Divorce and child custody laws vary from state to state. If you are away from your domicile state, you need to consider the laws in your domicile state as well as the laws of the state, city, or country where you’re currently residing if you file for divorce.
In a military divorce, people also have to consider health care. If a spouse is getting divorced from a military spouse, they will no longer be entitled to get military benefits which they were getting as a military dependent. This means they will have to cover their health care expenses themselves. Moreover, they won’t be entitled to other military perks, like getting a discount at Disney World!
The next question people are concerned about when going through a military divorce is whether or not they’ll get a share of their spouse’s retirement benefits. Military pensions are handled differently than the civilian pensions. Military pensions are not governed by ERISA, but have their own set of laws. If the military couple was married for 10 years, they are only entitled to a portion of their military spouse’s pension. Other factors also have to be considered such as survivor benefits and cost of living adjustments. If the ex-spouse if not eligible to receive a portion of the military pension, then they may ask for other compensation. For that, they’ll have to contact a qualified attorney who can get them a fair and equitable settlement.
Apart from all these benefits, military personnel also receive other non-taxable stipends during deployment. These stipends include housing, food, as well as uniform allowances. All of these stipends are listed in their income tax return as non-taxable items. However, when determining alimony and child support, these items have to be taken in the person’s annual income figure.
Due to all these issues in military divorces, it is very important to contact a qualified attorney who knows how to handle military divorce cases. Although there is no special rule for what constitutes a military divorce lawyer, hiring an attorney for your military divorce is not easy. Any family law attorney may claim that they can handle a military divorce, but you need to hire one who knows the legal issues that affect a divorce when one or both spouse are in the military.
