Divorce Lawyers at Your Service for Service Members

Ex-it Strategy

• Sarah, a partner and attorney at New Direction Family Law, interviewed Ashley Oldham, another partner, and attorney at the same firm, about military divorces.
• Military divorces have unique challenges, such as deployments, custody during deployment, and division of military pensions and benefits.
• There are three bases for jurisdiction under federal law regarding military pensions: consent, domicile, and residency for reasons other than military assignments.
• To benefit from certain accounts, no set length for marriage is required. Still, if the marriage overlaps with military service for ten years, the spouse can receive direct payments from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.
• It is crucial to pick an attorney who knows enough about military divorce to understand what they do not know and can outsource to others.
• In a military divorce, all military entitlements count for child support, not just taxable income.
• The frozen benefit rule, which affects how much of a pension a former spouse is entitled to, has changed with the National Defense Authorization Act and may be worth less than expected due to disability benefits.
• Survivor benefits are unitary benefits, meaning they go to one person, but the pension can be divided among multiple spouses.
• Military attorneys are available for legal assistance, but they may not be licensed in the state and may not be knowledgeable about family law.