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Scott Law Offices - Helping Clients with Military DivorcesThe members of the United States military must deal with the stress of a divorce the same as any civilian married couples, and when this situation arises, it can be very difficult to proceed given the obvious extenuating circumstances. As a result, there are several laws, rules and regulations in place designed to make this process as fair as possible both for the spouse of the soldier and the party who is actively serving in the military. Below are a few of these considerations.Physical PresenceMore than 100,000 members of the military are currently serving actively in a war. As a result, the requirement of being served with a summons for a divorce can be all but impossible in certain situations. Given that the courts do not want to ever grant a divorce without the knowledge of both parties, the federal government has passed a law known as the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act. This statute states that a divorce proceeding can be postponed until such time as the soldier has finished his or her active duty and up to 60 days thereafter.Of course, this does not take into account the situations where the divorce is uncontested or when the spouse in the military consents to the divorce proceeding. In these cases, the soldier must still be served in order to provide California courts with jurisdiction, but the soldier must sign an affidavit that waives the physical presence requirement. Jurisdiction and ResidencyAside from providing the California courts with jurisdiction as described above, there are also residency requirements that must be met in order for a divorce proceeding in California to be considered valid. It's quite common for married military members to wed their spouse in one jurisdiction and then move around quite often, giving rise to the probability that a divorce proceeding could arise in a different jurisdiction than where they were married.California law states that in order for a divorce proceeding that involves a military member to be considered legally valid, at least one of the parties must either reside in California or be officially stationed in California. If neither of these requirements is met, the petition for divorce could be dismissed for improper jurisdiction. How to ProceedIf you are involved in a marriage that includes an active member of the military, you need to be sure that you're taking the proper steps to work towards the dissolution of the marriage. Contact the San Diego divorce lawyers at the Law Offices of James D. Scott today to schedule an initial consultation. |
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