Military Divorce Lawyer: What to Expect From the Military Divorce Process

This video features Jillian French, a Family Law attorney based in Texas.

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“It is very important to make sure that you have somebody doing your domestic relations order that does have an understanding of military law as it relates to family law.”

Military divorce presents extra hurdles not present in civil divorce: how to divide military retirement benefits, who qualifies for them, how to file if a spouse is deployed, etc. This means that anyone going through a divorce involving a military service member needs an experienced military divorce lawyer who understands how to navigate the bureaucratic details.

Jillian French is a divorce attorney with Vaught Law Firm, LLC based in Austin, Texas. She focuses her practice on divorce, child custody, and child support. She has been handling military divorce matters for those near Fort Hood and surrounding areas since 2013.

In this interview, she explains what to expect from a divorce proceeding involving a service member and how an attorney can provide valuable assistance.

To learn more, contact the attorney directly by calling 888-981-0085 or by submitting a contact form on this page.

Key Takeaways From Jillian French:

Even if a servicemember is active duty, the servicemember or their spouse may file for a divorce in most circumstances. However, that divorce may not be finalized until the servicemember’s duty ends. Additionally, the process for filing a military divorce can differ from state to state, so it’s important to consult an attorney with experience handling military divorce in your area.

If a deployed servicemember invokes the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the non-military spouse may have to wait to file.

This is one of the exceptions for which a spouse may have to wait to file a divorce. However, servicemembers do not always invoke this act, especially if they also have an interest in filing the divorce. Deployed servicemembers will have access to their own attorney in the United States who can handle legal matters on their behalf.

In certain situations, a military spouse may be entitled to receive some military benefits.

Military retirement and Tricare health insurance are two benefits to which a military spouse may be entitled under certain circumstances. For example, if the spouse was married to the servicemember for 15 years of active duty service, the spouse is entitled to one year of post-divorce Tricare health insurance. If that number increases to 20 years of marriage during active duty service, the spouse may be entitled to Tricare for more than one year after divorce. However, post-divorce Tricare coverage for former military spouses does not include vision and dental coverage.

A former military spouse will likely be entitled to some percentage of military retirement pay.

Regardless of how long a spouse is married to a servicemember, they will likely be entitled to a certain percentage of the servicemember’s military retirement pay as long as the servicemember retires with that pay, and has served for at least twenty years. Attorneys will often look at the months of marriage accumulated during military service to decide how the retirement pay should be divided, often deciding on a 50/50 split of the amount accumulated in that time, especially in community property states such as Texas. However, if this time was accumulated while the military spouse served in the reserves, the process for deciding division of retirement pay may differ.

Due to the complicated nature of military divorce, it is especially important to find an attorney who understands both military and divorce law.

French stresses the necessity of locating an attorney with training and experience in both military law and family law, to ensure that not only the basics of any divorce process are accounted for but to ensure that elements specific to military divorce are also compensated. This can also ensure that a non-military spouse does not ask for more than they are entitled to. Hiring an attorney with experience in both fields can also prevent a spouse’s military service from affecting their eligibility for child custody; while it is not technically allowed, it is not uncommon for a spouse’s military service to be used against them as a reason that they should not receive custody. To learn more about military divorce, division of military benefits, or how to protect yourself as a servicemember during the divorce process, seek legal counsel from a military divorce attorney.

To learn more, contact Jillian French directly by calling 888-981-0085 or by submitting a contact form on this page.

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