Matters can become even more complicated when one spouse wants to pursue a divorce while the other is stationed overseas. Regardless of the situation, our divorce attorneys can help. When choosing a divorce or family law attorney to assist you, it’s important to retain one that has the resources and the experience to ensure the best possible chance of achieving a successful result.

Our Pierce County and Tacoma military divorce lawyers assist all service members stationed at JBLM. Whether you are assigned to Fort Lewis or McChord Air Force Base, our family law attorneys have the resources and experience to help you successfully resolve your divorce or family law matter.

If you are looking for additional information about the types of issues many of our military clients face when divorcing, we encourage you to visit the Military Once Source website discussing a variety of family law legal issues. This is an excellent resource and has many helpful and informative articles that provide a good general overview of the types of issues that many military service members face when divorcing.

For a good general overview of Understanding Divorce in the Military, this article provides some solid basic and useful information. Here’s another article that we frequently recommend to service members regarding divorces involving children and dividing a pension.

Here’s the bottom line. Getting a divorce is always difficult. But, when you are a member of the armed services, getting a divorce can get very complicated quickly. Our military divorce lawyers are experienced, aggressive, and results-oriented. Our lawyers have successfully resolved hundreds of divorce and family law matters for service members and their spouses over just the last ten years alone.

Our Washington military family law lawyers are here to help.

Talk to a military divorce lawyer from our firm today if you have questions about your divorce and family law legal rights and options.Wondering if you can file for divorce or family law case here in Washington? Are you active duty and currently stationed in Washington State? In many respects, military divorces in Washington State are handled in a very, very similar manner to civilian divorces. But there are important differences. One of experienced military divorce lawyers can review your specific facts and circumstances and then help you to understand your legal rights and options.

In most situations, if you are stationed in Washington State, you are able to legally be divorced in Washington, under Washington law, even if you still claim a different state as home state or state of “domicile”. If you are deployed overseas, you also have important rights and protections under the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act, which largely prevents default judgments and other orders from being entered against you while you are overseas.

Our Washington military divorce lawyers will help you understand your legal rights.

If you are currently an armed services member and are stationed in Washington State, you have the legal right to utilize Washington State jurisdiction for any divorce or family law matters. Our Washington military divorce attorneys understand the divorce and family laws of this state and how the military’s own unique laws overlay with Washington’s divorce laws. Speaking with a military divorce attorney from our firm today will also help you better obtain a clear picture of how these laws will affect you and your family law case.

Our military divorce attorneys provide family law services to military service members throughout Washington State. Are you active duty and in the armed services while stationed in the state of Washington? Do you need to get a divorce? Do you have Washington family law questions? Are you currently stationed at Fort Lewis? McChord AFB (Air Force Base)? Everett Naval Station? If so, our Washington military divorce lawyers are here to help! Talk to a military divorce attorney today.

Military divorce issues in Washington State.

Military divorces are handled much the same way as any other divorce would be here in Washington State. The parties need only have a residence here in Washington to file for divorce here. If children are involved and both parents are currently living and/or are stationed here in Washington then the court will most likely have jurisdiction over the children.

The critical issues in dealing with a military divorce that may be different from a non-military divorce involve maintenance or spousal support required to be paid, military retirements or pensions and disability pay. Our Washington State military divorce attorneys understand that these are often critical issues that are very fact specific.

Most military members receive a basic housing allowance that is meant to be used to support his or her family. The military member, under some circumstances, may withhold that allowance from the spouse they are separated from unless there is an order in place providing for spousal maintenance.

On the other hand, in some cases, the military may require the full amount of the allowance go to the non-military spouse in absence of an Order stating otherwise. It is important for both parties to have an order addressing this issue in place so that each party knows what is expected.

Community property and pensions in a Washington military divorce.

Another issue often involved in military divorce includes distributing the community portion of the military member’s pension or Thrift Savings Plan. The court can distribute any portion of the pension as it would any other community property. The military must follow the “10 year” rule in order to distribute a military member’s pension.

In other words, if the parties have not been married at least 10 years coincident with 10 years of the military service, then the court cannot divide the pension itself. It can, however, order the military member to pay a portion of their pension themselves to their ex-spouse rather than having the military pay them directly. If a military member is already receiving their pension, then the court can count the pension as income when determining child support. A good Washington military divorce lawyer understands how these military laws interact with and overlay Washington State’s divorce laws regarding community property and pensions.

It is also important to note that military disability payments are not community property and the court cannot order them to be split between the parties. This does not keep the court from ordering maintenance or child support, and disability payments will be counted as part of your income as you receive them.

Soldier’s/Sailor’s Relief Act.

Our Washington military divorce lawyers can help protect you if you are deployed overseas or unable to otherwise fully participate in your case.

If one of the parties in a divorce is a member of the military and they are unable to fully participate in their case because of their active duty status then they may petition the Court for a stay of the proceedings. A stay is not automatic simply because the military member is, in fact, in the military or because they petition the Court for a stay. Our Washington State military divorce attorneys understand how to protect your legal rights and preserve your legal options if you are unable to fully participate in divorce or family law proceedings.

Military members can also file and finalize uncontested divorces while overseas. Our Washington military divorce attorneys and staff are proficient at communicating via email and phone in order to accomplish all of our clients’ needs. We have a specific process set up to completely handled these kinds of cases from start to finish. Our Washington State military divorce lawyers handle a number of uncontested divorce and family-law related matters for armed services’ members every year.

Our Washington State military divorce lawyers are experienced in all aspects of divorce, including how military rules and regulations affect the process. We are happy to assist any client dealing with military issues.

These colors don’t run! Neither do our military divorce lawyers.

Our military divorce attorneys proudly serve and assist armed services members throughout Washington State.

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