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...
2 ways that military parents can fulfill scheduled parenting time
Arranging child visitation time while serving active military duty can be difficult. Rest assured, there are ways you can stay connected to your child when you aren’t sure when and where your service will take you. 1. Strive for a flexible schedule Many parents...
How does the military get involved in child support?
If you have a child with a military service member or veteran, it's important to know that there are federal laws regarding their obligation to pay child support that has been ordered by a court or which they've agreed to pay in a signed legal agreement with their...
Ex-military spouses: You might be able to receive retirement pay
Ex-military spouses have the right to receive a portion of their ex-spouse's retirement benefits. This right is protected by the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act (USFSPA), which was enacted in 1982 by Congress. The law permits state courts to treat...
Family care plans for military service personnel
If you're a single parent serving in the armed forces, or if both you and your spouse are service members, you need to create a "family care plan" that maps out how your children will receive care in the event of your deployment. As a part of your military family care...
Military divorce and separation agreements
As an alternative to divorce, military service members might want to draft and sign a separation agreement. There are two kinds of separation agreements -- one involves couples entering into an out-of-court agreement and another that involves a court order and court...
Military family law: When children are born abroad
Any child born to a U.S. citizen will also receive citizenship, even if the child is born overseas on a military base. However, when it comes to military parents and their children born overseas, they usually have questions about how citizenship works. In this...
Can I have primary custody of my kids as a military member?
There's a false idea floating around about child custody as it applies to military parents. It's that military service members cannot maintain primary custody of their children. This is not true. As long as you create a shared parenting plan that honors the needs of...
Supreme Court ruling lets veteran pay less money to ex-spouse
A disabled veteran won a U.S. Supreme Court case last month. The ruling means that his ex-wife will receive less in military retirement benefits each month. The ruling could also affect other disabled veterans when it comes to how much of their retirement pensions...
The unique challenges faced by military couples
In virtually every Tennessee divorce, the most important issues for consideration boil down to money and children. When it's a military divorce, the long deployments and constant moving around cause child- and money-related issues to create even higher levels of...