Hiring a Military Divorce Attorney

What is a Military Divorce?

A “military divorce” is not a special type of proceeding - like any other dissolution of marriage action, it will take place in civilian courts, not military courts, in front of the same domestic relations judges and magistrates who preside over family law cases involving civilians. The term “military divorce” is simply shorthand for a divorce when one, or both, of the spouses is a military member or retiree, so the case may present some unique military issues.

Just as there is no such thing as a military divorce, neither is there an official “military divorce lawyer”, though that term is typically applied to family law attorneys who have specialized military knowledge.

Finding a Military Divorce Attorney

Hiring an attorney for your military divorce is not easy. Just because a family law attorney claims to know the military, it does not mean he really knows the law, or keeps current with the whirlwind of developments in the past few years. Similarly, while being a military veteran helps to understand what military families go through, it does not necessarily mean that the attorney understands the legal issues which affect a divorce when one spouse is in the military.

An attorney in the military’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps (aka a “JAG officer”) very likely knows military retirement or SBP issues from the military perspective. However, the typical legal assistance attorney is licensed in a completely different state from where she is stationed, and has almost certainly never practiced family law in a state court (I had not, when I was an Army legal assistance attorney). But the JAG office may be a good starting point to learn about the military side of things, as well as a possible source of referrals to the civilian community.

Anyone can hold himself out as as a “military divorce attorney”, but there's a difference between advertising, and actually knowing the laws affecting military divorces or litigating those issued in family law courts.

So how do you find an attorney who understands military family law issues? If you know someone who has been through the system, word of mouth may be a good starting point. Do you have a friend who loved his attorney? Or even one who hated her own lawyer, but believed the opposing counsel in her case knew what she was doing?

But even a recommendation is only the first step in the process. Visit the law firm's web site - if it doesn't even mention the military, that's not a positive sign. But beware - several lawyers will pay a company to ghost-write articles for their site, without actually knowing or understanding what has been posted. To avoid running afoul of state bar rules against deceptive advertising, sometimes these articles may say they are written “on behalf of John Smith”, or “for Jane Johnson”, instead of being “by” the attorney. Or they will license a downloadable PDF with a catchy name (some even borrowing the name “Military Divorce Guide”), with the attorney name printed on it, but again, it’s merely something the lawyer paid for the privilege of including.

The only real way to find out for sure if a prospective lawyer knows what she is talking about is to set up a consult. If you do a little research beforehand, you should be able to tell in about 5-10 minutes whether the person sitting at the desk in front of you is fobbing you off with generalities to mask a lack of expertise, or if he truly understands military divorce issues and can answer what you throw at him.

If you already have specific question in mind, fire away and see what answers you get. But if not, here are some basic questions which every military divorce attorney should be able to answer.

5 Questions To Ask Military Divorce Lawyers

1. How many cases have you handled involving military personnel? For comparison’s sake, at Graham.Law about ⅓ of our cases involve the military, which translates into hundreds of military divorces actually handled.

2. How does the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act affect service of process? This is a bit sneaky, since it's a double trick question. First, the SSCRA was replaced in 2003 when it was entirely rewritten as the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Second, the SCRA has no specific requirements on how to serve the summons on a military member.

3. Explain the Blended Retirement System. Note - this one is likely a real stumper, even for many good military divorce attorneys. As the system was brand new in 2018, there are still a lot of cobwebs to shake out before anyone really knows what impact it will have on a divorce. Bu any military divorce attorney should at least understand a few of the basics - the retirement multiplier is reduced from 2.5% to 2%, there is up to a 5% government match into the TSP, and continuation pay available at 12 years of service.

4. What is the 10/10 Rule for Military Retirement? It means that a spouse who was married to a military member for at least 10 years overlapping military service is entitled to direct payment of the retirement from DFAS. Note that a state court has jurisdiction to divide retirement with fewer than 10 years of marriage, this rule is only to get the payments from DFAS instead of the retiree.

5. What benefits does civilian spouse receive after divorce?  Military retirement. And unless married for at least 20 years, that's it. If the spouse has 20 years of marriage overlapping at least 15 years of service, there is one year of transitional medical benefits. It takes 20 years of marriage overlapping military service for full 20/20/20 benefits.

Colorado Springs Military Divorce Lawyer

If you need a military divorce attorney in El Paso County, we would be honored if you consider Graham.Law. Not only would we pass the test above (hardly a fair test, since we wrote it!), but we truly know the military and military family law.

About a third of our cases involve the military, and most of our team is either a military veteran, a family member, or both. Our attorneys not only attend military family law CLEs, but our managing partner, Carl O. Graham, teaches most of them! Carl is a former Army JAG attorney considered the statewide authority on military family law issues, and has authored this Guide, “An Introduction to Family Law and the Military” for the Colorado Lawyer, and the Military Parenting chapter of the CBA publication, Practitioner’s Guide to Colorado Domestic Relations Law.

Graham.Law handles military divorce cases in El Paso and Teller Counties. Ask about our military discount.