The military lifestyle is one with a lot of movement and relocation. Service members may be transferred between bases, they may be deployed, and they may spend a significant amount of time moving around for training.
This can make filing for divorce a bit more complicated. Typically, people are required to file in the state where they claim residency. What does that mean for a military member?
It means that there are likely three different locations in which the case can be filed. The first is the state that the military member claims for legal residency.
However, if the service member is stationed in a different state, that state can also be used for the divorce filing. This doesn’t mean that it becomes the service member’s new state of residency. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act made it so that military members could be residents of states they didn’t actively live in so that they did not have to change residency every time they were re-stationed or transferred.
Finally, the divorce filing could take place in the state in which the military member’s spouse claims to be a resident. This could be different than either of the other two. Naturally, if both people are in the military, that opens up even more options.
As you can see, jurisdiction in military divorce cases is different than it is for civilian cases, and it’s critical to know about your rights and how they can be impacted by joining the armed forces. If you have any questions about this process, our website can help to answer them quickly and honestly.