Military Divorce in Athens Georgia

Military divorce in Georgia and other states of the nation have a different set of issues as compared to civilian divorce and there are specific federal and state laws that are applicable to it. In Georgia, the military offers protection to its active duty service members from divorce proceedings. There are laws specially set up so that active officers are not penalized for defaulting on ongoing divorce suit. Thus military officers who are on active duty cannot be without being made aware of it.

The Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act, 50 UCS sections 521 protects military service members in support of discretion of local Georgia court and has provision to postpone divorce cases for complete period of active on duty service of officers in question. A further postponement of a maximum of 60 days is also allowed if requested. This provision is usually exercised during a war.

A spouse in the military affects a divorce in a number of ways including:

• Place where divorce would be filed.
• Calculation of support, both spousal as well as child.
• Custody and visitations decisions.
• Right to pension and other related benefits.

Since military divorce is a little bit different, a competent military divorce lawyer is required for successful representation. A military divorce lawyer would have knowledge about the rules and regulations that affect service personnel in a divorce which a general divorce lawyer might not possess.

Process of Serving a Spouse Active in Military

In Georgia, the active duty spouse should be served with a summons and copy of divorce action personally, for the court to be able to exercise jurisdiction over the member. If the divorce is an uncontested one, then there is no requirement for active military spouse to be summoned as long as he or she files a waiver affidavit acknowledging the action.

A military divorce filing requires that either one of the spouses is resident in Georgia or one of them is stationed in Georgia. Military and civilian divorces have same grounds in Georgia. Military rules state that child support and alimony should not be more than 60% of the military member’s income and allowances. The child support is calculated using the Child Support Worksheet, on the basis of child support guidelines like in any civilian divorce.

Division of property in military divorces in Georgia is under governance of the Uniformed Services Former Spouse’s Protection Act or USFSPA. This body calculates the retirement benefits and divides it in a divorce. For being eligible to receive a portion of spouse’s military retirement benefits, the marriage should have lasted a minimum of ten years while member has been on active military duty.