International Military Divorce
| Author | Bryce D. Neier |
| Pages | 42-43 |
42 FAMILY ADVOCATE www.shopaba.org
International
Military Divorce
By BRYCE D. NEIER
example, Army Regulation 608-99 sets forth the parameters
when a service member pays the BAH and when he or she is
exempt. Each service is dierent, and in some cases, with a
short-term marriage, it may not be worth the money to le
lawsuits for spousal support when there is no guarantee what
a judge will award for an ongoing monetary amount.
SGLI
Service members qualify for term life insurance through the
Survivor Group Life Insurance benet, which currently has
a death benet up to $400,000.00 for an extremely low
monthly cost. But here’s the kicker that a lot of family law
practitioners don’t know about. e U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in Hillman v. Maretta, 569 U.S. 483 (2013), that the
beneciary clause selection by the service member trumps
state court actions, meaning essentially federal law can stop
a state court judge from ordering the service member to
designate the spouse as the beneciary. One option may be
for the family law attorney to petition the court to allow a
spouse to purchase a life insurance policy on the other
spouse and argue that the spouse has an insurance interest
in the other, citing that if the military service member dies,
there won’t be ongoing child support or ongoing spousal
support to pay for the children’s needs and to pay the
outstanding bills that have accrued during the marriage.
is is something that family law practitioners in military
divorce cases need to investigate to come up with solutions
that pass legal muster.
There’s an old saying from the US military: “If the
Army wanted you to have a wife, they would have
issued you one.” at saying of long ago now
replaced “wife” with the word “spouse” as both
women and men serve our nation across the globe
in one of our six branches of military service (Army, Navy,
Marine Corp, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine,
Space Force).
However, with that statement often comes the dreaded
word “divorce.” e military didn’t issue you a divorce, but
like any other occupation, the military seems to have a high
percentage per capita of separation and divorce.
Family law practitioners in military communities face a
barrage of dierent issues when it comes to separation and
divorce. is short article will attempt to cover some of the
critical areas family law attorneys should pay heed to.
e fact is that divorce law is state controlled and not
governed by any particular federal or military statute, with
exceptions dealing with Survivor Benet Plan (SBP), Basic
Allowance for Housing (BAH), Survivor Group Life
Insurance (SGLI), TRICARE, and a few other matters that
are clearly within the purview of the Department of Defense.
Military Family Support Regulat ions
Some branches of our military require the service member to
pay to the dependent civilian spouse a portion or all of his/
her BAH during the separation period, unless a service
member meets the qualications of not having to pay it. For
Published in Family Advocate, Volume 43, Number 2, Fall 2020. © 2020 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof
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