Military Divorce Laws

Pittsburgh Military Divorce Lawyer with Answers

There is nothing commonplace about the duties an active United States service member has to face on a daily basis. In fact, the description of their military careers is enough to cause them to face unusual legal hurdles that most others will never have to worry over. Perhaps more than anything, though, going through a military divorce can be most troublesome.

In order to try to help out the men and women who so bravely serve our country in the Armed Forces, special legislation has been drafted in an attempt to ease and clarify legal and civil processes they may encounter. In particular, the Service members Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act (USFSPA) might be pertinent to your situation if you are going through a divorce while serving in the military.

What is the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act?

The SCRA is sometimes considered the first line of legal defense for service members and their families when it comes to civil disputes and battles.

As it pertains to military members going through divorce, however, ties to the fact that it can postpone civil court dates. If your spouse needs you to sign divorce papers, for example, but you are half a world away on an aircraft carrier and will not be back until your tour is over, the SCRA can automatically grant you an additional 90 days in the proceeding’s timeline until a default decision is made due to your absence. You may even request another 90 days after that if it seems unlikely or unreasonable that you will be back in the United States to take your spot in your divorce process. Ultimately, this can grant much-needed relief to all sorts of family law matters, allowing you to focus on your duty to your country.

What is the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act?

As a divorcing military spouse, your situation could be controlled by federal and state laws, as well as military mandates. This can be confusing, to the say the least, and used to leave people feeling like something was overlooked or lost in the tangle of legislation. The USFSPA may provide some peace of mind by allowing courts to split some of a service members benefits with an ex-spouse, effectively protecting the well-being of an ex who might otherwise not have been granted anything.

In terms of actually receiving any form of payment from a military member after divorce, a court will usually only grant this if child custody or alimony are required, or if the marriage persisted for a considerable amount of years. Leaving things up to a judge’s discretion alone, however, might not be beneficial. An attorney can provide the support needed to help secure a favorable arrangement for your situation.

Let Our Firm Help You Figure This All Out

Part of what makes our military men and women so great is that they are capable of tackling just about anything head-on. No one ever said one of those things was going to have to be deciphering the laws and litigation surrounding military divorce, though. If you need some guidance and legal counsel, do not be hesitant to get the support you need from our team. Our divorce lawyer in Pittsburgh is always proud to work with servicemembers and their families, and we hope we can show that by getting you to the place you need to be.