Welcome back to the Ox and Dying Law podcast. Military families face special challenges when it comes to divorce, all the way from relocation to pension division considerations. So, if you or your spouse serves in the military, then this episode is for you. And I guess the first question uh somebody might have when it comes to facing a military divorce, for lack of a better word, is where do you file? And I and that consideration is no different really than any other case, except for the fact that sometimes you have a military service member that's deployed. So the the question is usually you file in the county of the residence of the defendant. So let's say you're the wife and your husband's in the military and he's deployed. Where do you file? wherever his legal residence is. Um, and if for some reason it is out of state, let's say that his last legal resident was in North Carolina, the family has now moved to Georgia and the whole time he's been in Germany on deployment. You'll file here in Georgia. Um, where basically the race of the marriage is. >> That's right. Wherever the household is, wherever uh the legal residency of the parties are, that's where you file. Doesn't matter if he's deployed. I mean, if you live in Georgia, for example, in Gwennne County, so to speak, and he's been stationed in North Carolina, or he's been stationed in Alabama, or he's overseas, that doesn't matter. It's based on where the the marital doicile is. So, in other words, the household of the family, and that's where we would file. >> And I've also had the question um because there are military families who don't have a legal residence or doicile. They live on base and don't have other property that they own anywhere. So, if that is the case, you will file wherever you're residing on base. >> That's correct. Um, something else that's uh unique to military divorce would be uh division of military pensions. Um, so keep in mind, and you're remissed if you don't remember this, if your spouse is in the military, they are accumulating a pension interest and anything accumulated during the marriage uh would be divisible for that pension just like any other asset. So, any other 401k or bank account um and you have to seek that out. It's not going to be given to you automatically. So, just know if your spouse is serving in the military or if you're in the military. Some military people forget they have a pension, believe it or not. But that is divisible. Um, just like any other account would be, and we commonly see situations where you've got a spouse that was in the military before they got married and they've started to accumulate some of this pension benefit before the marriage and then they get divorced years later. Anything that accumulated before you got married through your years of service would be your separate interest. Your spouse would have no claim to that and they would only be entitled to the portion that was accumulated during the marriage. And so it's important to do an expert calculation really of what that premarital value of your pension is versus the marital portion. >> Right? >> Let's talk about custody and parenting time. So let's say you're the person that's uh actively deployed. You're in the military. You've got a long-term deployment overseas. You're out serving. You've got this uh divorce pending and you're worried about not seeing the children during the time period that you're overseas and deployed. Obviously, that's an impractical situation. If you are overseas for that period of time, you're probably not going to see the children. We can build in now. It's great we've got fancy electronics these days where you can do FaceTime and Skype and all that. We're not talking about that. We're talking about inperson visitation. So, a couple things we can do there. when you come back from overseas, perhaps we can get you some extra time during the summer, for example, when the kids aren't in school or maybe some extra weekends during the school year to make up for the time that you missed. But there's a provision that's really cool in the law, Christine, that would actually allow parents of a deployed service member to step in during the time period that that person is deployed and actually exercise the parenting time. >> Right. I think it's important to note um if you are a grandparent of um your son or daughters in the military, that is not automatic. You would have to call an attorney and talk to them about applying for and getting those rights, but that is accounted for in the law. So, it's not going to be as big of an uphill battle um because the law contemplates that there will be contact with grandparents. Um, again, not automatic, but if you've asked for it and the that you do have a relationship with the children and want to maintain that while your son or daughter is deployed, there is a function of law for that. >> Well, and it's important when you're negotiating your settlement, your divorce, let's say you are an active uh service member and you anticipate long periods of deployment in the future and you've got this agreement in place where you're entitled to, let's just say you're entitled to every other Thursday to Sunday plus every Thursday overnight. you can negotiate that your parents are able to step in and exercise that parenting time at any time periods that you're deployed. So, it doesn't require always your parents to step in and apply for that. If you can negotiate those terms of that agreement with your spouse as part of the divorce and then after the divorce is over, you actually get deployed. we already have the provision built into your settlement agreement where your parents, if they want to, can step in your place and exercise that parenting time just like they were you, right? And so, if we can get your spouse to agree to that and we anticipate that and we build it into your final order, it automatically happens. Your parents don't have to come in after the fact after the divorce is over with and apply for that consideration. It's already built in by agreement. >> Exactly. And for any of you who are deployed uh during the period of your divorce, oftentimes like you said, we have to cultivate a parenting plan of some sort and it is not feasible. You're even if it was just every other weekend, a very minimal, you're not going to get that if you're deployed overseas. Um so just know that when you return, if the parenting plan doesn't contemplate an expanded schedule, that would be a basis for a modification. So, let's just say everything else is worked out and you need this thing over with and your parenting plan says you get one weekend a month. Okay, fine. Um, when you are permanently returned, you that would be a basis for a modification and I've done several of those. >> I agree. How about support? Uh, this is unique to the military. So, let's say that um you've you're the spouse of a military member and you file the case and your spouse is deployed or stationed somewhere and they're not providing any support to the household. They're not paying the bills of the household. They're not paying any type of support on behalf of the children. Uh you can actually address that with the military. >> Yeah. >> Um usually you have to have a court order in place. So, you file for divorce. Uh there's no there's no rules in place really when you file for divorce, right, about who has to pay the bills or somebody that's got to pay alimony or child support. You actually have to go to court and get a court order in place to require that to be mandatory. There's an exception for that in the military because the military actually expects people that are part of the military to take care of their families. And uh if you're in a situation where that deployed or stationed service member is refusing to pay household bills or contribute financially for the needs of the children, you can actually address that with that person's commander and they will take drastic measures to enforce that. It can include the merits. It can include, you know, other forms of punishment in the military. You can actually get kicked out of the military for not voluntarily paying support. So, that's good to know if you're the non-service member. >> Sure. Um, but, uh, conversely, if you are receiving direct benefits for the children from the military, that does count towards your child support obligations. So, you're not going to get to keep those benefits and also expect the deployed or the uh military spouse to be contributing on top of it depending on what the obligation is. >> That's true. And that can actually act as an offset to your child support obligation. So, keep that in mind. very important point that Christine raised when you're talking about calculating the child support obligation and I'm just going to make up a number. Let's say your child support obligation is $1,000 per month. Well, if your spouse is receiving military benefits on behalf of the children, he or she doesn't get the military benefit plus $1,000 per month, uh whatever they're receiving for the military benefit would act as a dollar for-dollar credit towards your child support obligation. So, make sure you get that offset >> and if it exceeds, you don't get the change back. >> That's true. That's true. It goes both ways, doesn't it? So, good advice today for both the noneployed and nonservice member and the service member of a military uh family situation. So, um hopefully if you're in the military or your spouse in the military, this episode has been very helpful. Again, we now have a second office location in the Athens area. So whether you're in great greater Atlanta or you're in greater Athens, we are available to help you with all your family law circumstances. Stay tuned on our podcast. Hit that subscribe button so that you're the first to know about future episodes. And we will look forward to speaking with you next time.