Couples who decide to divorce face a number of important decisions – about raising their children, about dividing their property about whether or not to seek support. When one half of that couple (or both halves) serve in the U.S. armed forces, there are additional unique challenges that civilian couples do not have to worry about. That is why a number of laws and acts have been put in place to help protect military members’ rights during civil litigation matters.
One such protection is the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act, or SCRA. The Act aims to:
- “Provide for, strengthen, and expedite the national defense through protection extended by this Act to servicemembers of the United States to enable such persons to devote their entire energy to the defense needs of the Nation; and
- To provide for the temporary suspension of judicial and administrative proceedings and transactions that may adversely affect the civil rights of servicemembers during their military service.”
Under the Act, any active duty member of the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy or Marine Corps, or any member of the National Guard who has been called to service for more than 30 consecutive days, can request a stay of all civil proceedings. In other words, a Nashville divorce lawyer from our office can legally ask a judge not to proceed with an immediate judgment regarding (for example) child custody if our client is overseas at the time such a judgment should be rendered. Instead, we would ask that the judge grant our client a stay of at least 90 days (or up to the duration of the client’s deployment plus an additional 60 days) so that he could attend the proceeding himself.
The SCRA is designed to protect servicemembers’s rights, but you do have the right to waive it. For example, let us assume you and your spouse are in agreement about your divorce and have created a plan for dividing your property (called a Marital Dissolution Agreement). If you are called up to active duty, you do not need to postpone the divorce until you come back if you and your spouse agree on how everything should proceed.
At Miller Upshaw Family Law, PLLC, we help military families face their challenges head on, and offer counsel and support to servicemembers around Tennessee. To learn more about the SCRA, or to schedule an appointment with a skilled Nashville family law attorney, please contact our office.
