A military lifestyle is not for everyone. If you are the soldier, you are frequently deployed overseas and away from your family. If you are the spouse of a soldier and you are not military personnel yourself, it is even more difficult because you spend most of your days operating as a single person and/or a single parent. That can wear on a person to the point where divorce is a very attractive option. If you make this decision while your spouse is away, be aware of the following issues and ramifications of choosing divorce now, why military divorces are tricky, and why you need your own lawyer.
You Have to Serve Your Spouse but Cannot
You can file for a divorce from your soldier-spouse, but the problem is that the military is not likely to serve your spouse with the divorce papers during missions. He or she would not have his/her head "in the game" and it could affect the outcome of the mission at hand or the reasons for deploying soldiers to an area. Additionally, the military would not fly a court server to an undisclosed area of combat to serve divorce papers, nor would they act as the server for you. You would have to wait until your spouse returns to American soil.
You Live on the Base but Are Getting a Divorce from Military Personnel
This is another two-edged sword. If you file for a divorce from military personnel while living on the base, you will be the one who is expected to leave the provided living quarters. You may also be expected to leave the children behind, since they are allowed to remain on base with their military parent. If your spouse has only returned for a few days' leave and you serve him/her with papers during this time, you may be able to take the children with you off the base, since your spouse will not be home and on base to look after them.
Custody arrangements will be quite difficult, but your military divorce attorney can argue that you should get full physical placement, given the nature of your spouse's career. You should make sure you have your own place to live and there is room for your children to live with you before you serve your spouse with papers. Otherwise, your spouse may make other arrangements to keep the children on base with him/her until you have suitable housing, which can seriously complicate your legal requests for custody of your children.
Share15 December 2016
Although many people don't think of having legal counsel as improving their life, I have found that it has really helped me to feel empowered as a business owner. Without my lawyer, it was really difficult to figure out what I could say and what I couldn't say, and it really made things hard when I was out and about trying to make business deals. Fortunately, after I found the right lawyer, things became a lot more straightforward. This blog is all about improving your life and streamlining your business with the help of a great lawyer. After all, you never know when you will find yourself in court.
