If you are from a military family and wants to get a divorce then the first thing you need to do is hire an experienced military divorce and spousal support lawyer. Here is the guide for you to file a military divorce.

Basic Laws of a Military Divorce

There are two types of laws; federal law and state law. During a military divorce, both laws are administered. Both the laws have different effects, for example:

• Federal law: It applies to the division of military pension amongst both spouses and it also the decision of position of estranged couple in the courtroom.
• State law: This law has an effect on the way spousal support would be provided. State law is usually applies depending on the state where the couple has filed their divorce.

Jurisdiction Matters

The first step to file a divorce is to have a jurisdiction which is basically an authorized form after which the court accepts the case to be handled by it. Jurisdiction for normal civilians is simply the state where they actually live however, as far as a military family is concerned, jurisdiction means the state where the legal residence of the military personnel is.

Many states have stopped demanding the requirements of couple’s legal residences which have made it easier for the couple to file a divorce from any state. But this is not done in every state so, before you file a divorce, make sure you discuss it with your lawyer.

Choose a State to File Divorce

To file a military divorce, you would have the following choices to file wherever you find it the most convenient:

• The state where you (the person filing a divorce) lives
• The state where your spouse who is military personnel has a legal residence
• The state of service member’s station

You can take help from military divorce lawyers to decide where you should file a divorce against your spouse.

File for Divorce

Once you have decided the state, you can head to one of the clerks in court and get your divorce filed without any hassle.

How to handle divorce while you are on active duty?

Well, many military personnel are at their active duties when their partners file a divorce which results in delayed or no response at all or absence at the trial. But other personnel who are off-duty get notified about their fellowman’s divorce notice so they postpone it until your spouse gets completely free. In this way, both the partners are aware of everything that Is going on and they also get enough time to talk it out, consult marriage counselor and come up with a mutual decision. This also prevents the military officer from getting divorced without even knowing about anything.

However, if you are the one who wants to get a divorce but are on active duty then there won’t be any need to wait for your duty to finish and get free completely, you can get the process of divorce started while on active duty.

Spousal and Child Support

An important issue that every couple is concerned about is benefits. Spousal support for military divorce is different as compared to normal divorce. You can get proper detail about it from a spousal support lawyer. The decision of spousal and child support by a court are made on the basis of either one of the following:

• Garnishment
• Actual court-order
• Voluntary or involuntary allotment

Perquisites After a Military Divorce

Some perks that are given to the separated couple after a military divorce are:

• If you have been married for 10 years and your services to military have also been of 10 years that has also overlapped with your marriage then the equal military pension share would be covered by the Defense Finance and Accounting Services.
• And if your marriage and service was of about 20 years then even more privileges will be given including; commissary, full-medical checkups, and exchange perks.

Getting a military divorce isn’t a hard task, all you need is a professional and experienced military divorce lawyer Fairfax VA to make the process of divorce and formalities after that to be done smoothly.