Columbia Family Divorce Law Blog

In 2022, a former husband of a marriage dissolved in 1994, who was recalled from military retirement to active service and given a promotion and salary increase from 2009-2012, moved to clarify the dissolution decree and Military Qualifying Court Order (MQCO), arguing that his former wife’s portion of the pension should not include the salary increases resulting from the husband’s involuntary recall to active duty service.

Military parents on active duty must manage both their service and their family responsibilities, like child support. It is important for them to keep up with child support payments, even when they are deployed.

Military retirement benefits often provide essential support to retired servicemembers and their spouses. This importance often makes them a significant challenge if those servicemembers divorce.

There are many reasons why service members may end up divorcing their spouses. Infidelity, long periods of separation and simple incompatibility can all lead to a military divorce.

Many Washington households include at least one service member. In some cases, both spouses are currently serving.

If you’re a Washington U.S. military servicemember who wishes to end your marriage, you’ll want to research state laws, as well as determine what type of support the military has to offer. For instance, if you have children, then your military Family Care Plan (FCP) will have significant relevance in your case, especially regarding child custody issues if you deploy overseas.

The relocations, the lengthy periods apart and the arguments were factors that led you to pursue the divorce of your spouse, a longtime member of the U.S. military. Among your concerns are whether you can secure a portion of your spouse’s military pension. You can.

“Military divorces” are divorces between couples where one or perhaps both individuals are active members of the military. Military personnel have extreme demands on their time and presence, which often require them to move to remote areas or deploy in dangerous situations.

If you research how to get a divorce without typing in any additional search terms, then you’ll likely come across a lot of information mentioning how you’re required to file for divorce in the state where you maintain legal residency. This rule of thumb doesn’t necessarily apply to you if you’re in the military or married to someone who is.

In many ways, military families are just like civilian families. In some ways, however, service members, their spouses and children often face particular challenges that arise because of deployment, relocation or other military issues that the average civilian family in Washington or elsewhere may not encounter.