3 Things to Know About Military Divorce

Active duty members of the military face some unique challenges when it comes to divorce.  While there are laws designed to protect military members who are deployed from facing legal action in their absence, it can be difficult to navigate issues such as child custody and support when an active duty member faces the possibility of deployments and frequent PCSing.  There are, however, other issues to consider.  If you’re active duty, make sure that you ask your Brooklyn divorce attorney about these concerns.

1.  Child custody.  What will happen if you deploy or get orders to a different state?  Make sure your custody agreement spells out who will have custody if you are not stateside.  You may also want to consider mandating visitation for close relatives while you are away so that your child doesn’t miss out on these important relationships.  Dual military couples will need to specify who has custody of the kids if both spouses deploy at the same time.

2.  Spousal support.  Typically, judges tend to award the non-military spouse support payments if he or she had to give up a career in order to follow a military member to their duty station. There are laws that make it very difficult to get out of these payments, even if the non-military spouse was earning more than his or active duty partner.

3.  Retirement.  Marriages that have lasted longer than nine and a half years typically trigger a law that requires the non-military spouse to receive a portion of the service member’s pension.  If your marriage is nearing this time limit, make sure that you file paperwork as soon as possible.  Otherwise, ask your divorce attorney Brooklyn about the possibility of “buying out” your soon-to-be former spouse if you want to retain your entire pension.

If you’re a military member about to go through a divorce, be sure to call the lawyers at Levitsky Law Firm.  They are some of the most experienced divorce attorney in Brooklyn with actual case experience in military divorce.