Military Family Support -questions and Discovery

• Publication year: 2017
• Author: Mark E. Sullivan

Military Family Support -Questions and Discovery

Mark E. Sullivan

Mark Sullivan is a retired Army Reserve JAG colonel. He practices family law in Raleigh, North Carolina and is the author of THE MILITARY DIVORCE HANDBOOK (Am. Bar Assn., 2nd Ed. 2011) and many internet resources on military family law issues. A Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, Mr. Sullivan has been a board-certified specialist in family law since 1989. He works with attorneys and judges nationwide as a consultant and an expert witness on military divorce issues in drafting military pension division orders. He can be reached at 919832-8507 and at mark.sullivan@ncfamilylaw.com.

When an attorney is meeting with a client for the first time and there are military family support issues, it is important to know what questions to ask. This article details some of the appropriate questions to ask and the necessary documents to request if the client is either the custodial parent or the support payee.

Questions to Ask the Client

When meeting with the client about a military support matter, use this list of questions (modified or deleted or edited, as necessary) as your guide:

1. Has there been a paternity determination? If so, give details (e.g., court-ordered paternity testing, admission in court documents, verified pleading, etc.).
2. Do you have a settlement or an order determining child support? If so, what is the date of the document? How much support was set? What are the other terms?
3. If the parties were married, when did they separate? When, if applicable, did they divorce? Where was the divorce or dissolution granted?
4. What is the other party's full name, social security number and pay grade or rank?
5. What is his branch of service (e.g., Coast Guard, Navy Reserve, Ohio National Guard)?
6. What is his location (e.g., Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, or Pope Army Airfield, North Carolina)?
7. What is his unit (e.g., 1^st Corps Support Command, or 30^th Fighter Wing)? The more detailed the information, the better. For example, instead of 1^st Corps Support Command, it would be preferable to identify the other party's unit as "Company C, 32d Transportation Battalion, 1^st Corps Support Command."
8. What support have you received? Do you have a written history of support payments (i.e., dates of payment, amounts paid)?
9. What attempts have you made to obtain support? Do you have evidence of those attempts?

Documents to Request and Review

It is also important to have documents to back up what the client...