Whether you and your spouse are both civilians, or you are a military family, divorce can be an emotional process. Leaving feelings aside for a moment, divorce can look quite different, depending on if you or your spouse are in the armed forces or not.
Deployments
First of all, military families face potential disruptions that civilians never do. If you are stationed at Fort Campbell, your unit could be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Even if the Army does not send you to a war zone, it has bases around the world where it could send you. Planning for child care can be complicated enough when you are married and your spouse will be acting as a single parent while you are overseas. If you are divorced, the need to adjust your child custody and visitation plan could make things even more complicated — if you have not already planned for this contingency.
Also, if you are deployed during divorce, having to handle things like property division from thousands of miles away can be challenging.
Military benefits
Speaking of property division, service members have assets that civilians do not receive, namely their military pension and their medical benefits. These valuable assets can be part of the negotiation process. For example, your ex may be able to stay on your medical plan for a set number of years, in exchange for you receiving a greater share of the marital assets.
Child support rules
Child support is another tricky issue for military parents. In addition to the state laws that apply to military and civilian families alike, the military imposes its own regulations. These rules apply before you and your ex have agreed on a level of support, and the court has issued an order, by providing guidance on payments in the interim. They also help ensure compliance by the paying parent.
Why there are military divorce attorneys in Tennessee
Because of the unique rules and circumstances surrounding divorce when one or both spouses are in the military, many family law attorneys are not able to help. A lawyer unfamiliar with the military’s rules and regulations related to divorce and family law will be unable to provide accurate guidance and legal support.
To avoid mistakes that you would have to fix later on, you should choose a divorce attorney who regularly represents service members and their spouses. Your children and long-term financial needs are too important not to handle properly.
