Divorce in Military Families in Illinois
Divorce is an overwhelming and grueling process. But sometimes divorce is the only option. The divorce process is a different experience for everyone who goes through it. This is especially true for military families. The military provides useful services and support for the servicemember’s families. However, they will often no longer be available to the non-servicemember’s spouse after the divorce. Also, servicemembers are often and regularly moved around the country and world. Mostly for duty stations, combat, and training with little to no choice from the servicemember. Therefore, if you are part of a military family and seeking a divorce, you will need to know what other effects the divorce will have on your family, above the effects felt by non-military families want to know what exactly to expect.
Filing in Military Divorce Cases
Typically, Illinois law allows someone to file for divorce where they reside. To clarify, people filing for the divorce usually file in the county and state they currently are living in. In addition, the person filing for divorce must have been a resident in the state they are filing in for a minimum of 6 months. However, military families often have “choices” as to the state of their residency. The laws of each state vary considerably in relation to divorces.
Military Divorce Case Filing Issues
One of the many significant issues that are affected by the law of the state filed relates to child custody, parenting time, and child support. Another significant issue is maintenance, also known as alimony. A third is the division of pensions, specifically your military pension. Therefore, you must understand the laws pertaining to the state you intend to file in. As well as the state that your spouse filed in and decide whether the selected state is the appropriate state for your family in terms of the divorce outcome.
Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act
Also known as the USFSPA, is the federal laws responsible for the division of military pensions. “This federal law says that the state of legal residence of the military member always has the power to divide the military pension in a divorce. So, if you file for divorce in a state that is not the military member’s state of legal residence, then the court may not have the authority to divide the pension.” – Statesidelegal.com
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
In most divorce cases, once one spouse files for divorce and serves the other spouse, there is a time limit in which the other spouse has to respond and participate in the divorce. Typically, regardless of whether a response is file or what the response is, the courts will move forward to the next steps in the divorce process. However, there is a federal law in place which can prolong the process if one member is on active duty. This law is known as the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act or SCRA. “The SCRA allows active-duty service members to request a “stay” (that is, to delay the proceedings) a divorce or other issues (such as spousal support, custody, child support, property division, and military division) if their duties prevent them from participating in or responding to the court action.” Lastly, the “stay” initially is 90 days, but may be extended.
Will the Military Give Me a Lawyer?
Every military branch has legal assistance attorneys for their members. These attorneys cannot not represent you in your divorce case in the courts. However, they can assist you with certain aspects of your case. For example, these attorneys may help you write letters and review and revise your documents. In addition, they may negotiate on your behalf as well as answer any question you may have. Lastly, this assistance is also available to the spouses of active military members.
Family Law Attorney
Jean Butler, a family law attorney at Prime Law Group LLC, can help you make sense of this situation. Give Jean a call if you have a question regarding spousal maintenance or any other family law matters.
