Military Divorce and Pensions

Arlington, Virginia, Military Divorce Attorney

Arlington * Fairfax County * McLean * Alexandria

Those who serve in the military and their spouses face some special legal concerns when getting a divorce or resolving other legal issues. You may need help choosing the right jurisdiction to file your divorce. You may wonder how to change your child custody, visitation and support arrangements if you are transferred or deployed. Dividing marital property that includes subsistence and housing allowances, combat pay, bonuses, military pensions and survivor benefits can be extremely complex.

Attorney Claudia J. Zucker can help. For more than 15 years, she has provided skilled family law support for members of America's armed forces and their families in Northern Virginia, including those in Arlington, Alexandria, and other area military installations.

Contact her online or call 703-595-2286 to schedule an initial case evaluation. English, French, and Spanish are spoken in her office.

Military Divorce and Multiple Jurisdictions

The state in which a service member's divorce is filed can impact how child support, custody and alimony issues will be resolved. Military members or their spouses may file for divorce in:

• The state they are stationed in, whether or not either spouse is considered a resident
• The state where the service member claims legal residency following discharge or retirement
• The state where their spouse claims legal residency

After divorce, reassignment and relocation can affect child custody and visitation arrangements, child support, and alimony. You may need to request a modification to your child custody order or a change to your child support or alimony obligations. The jurisdiction in which disputes are resolved may also be affected.

An active-duty spouse being stationed or deployed overseas can create additional issues. Under the Servicemember's Civil Relief Act (SCRA), military personnel are protected from lawsuits, including divorce, during active duty and 60 days afterwards. This may delay the divorce proceedings.

Marital Property Division in Military Divorce

Federal law authorizes state courts to divide military pay, pensions, and certain other benefits during divorce. While the law does not specifically address requirements for how to divide military pay and benefits, it does authorize Virginia to apply state law to divide property earned during the marriage.

Federal law also provides for direct payment to an ex-spouse by the federal government when the marriage overlapped the military spouse's time in the service by ten years or more. Attorney Zucker is familiar with the 10-year rule, asset division via Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDRO) and other issues related to the division of property in military divorce. She can build an effective strategy to protect your rights.

Experienced, Personalized Representation

Attorney Zucker provides personal attention to each of her military clients. She believes such individual care not only provides a valuable service, she knows it is critical to effectively resolve the particular challenges of a military divorce.