The state where the servicemember claims legal residency. This is where the servicemember’s home state, or where he or she plans to live after discharge or retirement.
In my experience, military divorce cases and child support disputes can become extremely convoluted. In a typical military divorce, the parties are divorced in the county court where the military base is located. Almost invariably, both spouses move back to their home state, or the servicemember is transferred to another base out of state. Consequently, the state where the original divorce case was filed retains jurisdiction over any post-judgment issues. I have had a case wherein New Jersey retained jurisdiction over a military divorce for more than 15 years even though the civilian spouse moved to Michigan, and the servicemember was transferred to California.
The above type of scenario makes it extremely difficult for the civilian spouse to file any type of a post-judgment support motion(s). Accordingly, it is quite common that the servicemember’s child support is never increased or subject to any type of a periodic review. Moreover, it is extremely difficult for the civilian spouse to file any type of post-judgment motion(s) to seek any contribution from the servicemember for college tuition costs for the children. To avoid these problems, it is strongly advisable for the civilian spouse to try to have the jurisdiction of family law case transferred to his or her home state. If no spouse continues to live the state with the original jurisdiction, then it is almost certain that the new state will grant any motion to transfer jurisdiction.
As a side note, I have also noticed that in many military divorces the ex-spouses have extensive legal battles to determine which state has jurisdiction. It is quite common that ex-spouses will engage in an extensive legal battle to determine which state’s child support guidelines should be used. In many military divorces there are three or more states that may have “significant contacts†to the divorce case. The bottom line is that the child support guidelines vary tremendously all throughout the United States. Therefore, in many military divorce cases the civilian ex-wife will try to have jurisdiction declared to be in the state that has the highest child support guidelines. Meanwhile, the servicemember ex-husband will use his efforts to try to have jurisdiction declared to be the state that has the lowest child support guidelines.
2. What are the most common mistakes that a divorce lawyer makes in handling a military divorce?
It is extremely important to obtain the services of an experienced divorce lawyer who also has an extensive background in military divorce law. There are many quirks and intricacies of military divorce law that must be mastered by an attorney. A shrewd military divorce lawyer can provide you with invaluable legal advice that could benefit you for the rest of your life.
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