A service member in Tennessee understands that marriage can be challenging. A marriage often becomes unstable because one of the spouses has been deployed to another state or country. If the military couple decides to divorce, it may be even more complicated if a child is involved. In an earlier post, how a non-custodial parent can receive child support assistance from a child support agency was discussed.
First of all, the military service member will need to tell the child support agency that the person is deployed. The individual also needs to mention the period of deployment and to keep the agency informed about wages, address, and health care of the child. The non-custodial parent may also ask for a review of the child support order in the event that there has been a substantial change in the military service member’s circumstances.
The service member also needs to sign a letter of authorization, appointing another person to speak on that person’s behalf. However, this Power of Attorney will not empower the designee to obtain any information about the child support case in the absence of the service member.
During the deployment period, the service member may ask another person to obtain information on the military member’s behalf as well. To enable this, the non-custodial parent must sign a form that will authorize the release of information to that person. When the service member returns home, the authorization letter can be nullified.
After the service member returns, the appropriate parties must be informed about the return. Again, changes in the address and health care coverage need to be updated with the child support agency of Tennessee. At that point, the service member may also request a modification of child support, in the event that there has been a substantial change in circumstances.
Source: ACF.HHS.gov, “A Handbook for Military Families,” Accessed on July 25, 2015
