Nearly 30,000 military marriages ended in fiscal year 2011, according to Pentagon data released in December. The military divorce rate in 2011 was 3.7 percent, up more than a full percentage point over the last ten years.
Military divorce rates have not been this high since 1999. Many troops returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and staging areas overseas arrive to a broken home, with little more than the services of California military divorce attorneys to help ease their transition back into single life.
Reasons for Military Divorce Trend
Unlike military divorce numbers, in the civilian world, divorce rates have been declining since 2000. In 2009, the latest year for which CDC data is available, the civilian divorce rate was 3.5 percent.
Why the disparity between civilian and military divorce trends? Experts are cautious to come to pinpoint definite conclusions without sufficient study. But, there is no doubt that the rigors of military life, especially the repeated deployments seen in recent years, can lead to tension in a romantic relationship.
Normally a cause for celebration, massive troop withdrawals have been assigned some of the blame for the rising military divorce rate. "As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan draw down, we're going to put more families together who haven't been used to being together," Chaplain Carleton Birch, a spokesman for the Army Office of the Chief of Chaplains, told USA Today in December.
Military Divorce Different From Civilian Counterpart
All divorces involve the dissolution of a marriage. However, there are a few important legal nuances to a divorce in which one or both spouses are members of the military.
For one thing, the Service Member's Civil Relief Act is a law specially tailored to military men and women that does not come into play in civilian divorces. In addition, military pensions receive different treatment in divorce compared to other types of pensions or retirement plans. Finally, support payments and enforcement of support orders, for either child support or alimony, are handled differently for service members.
If you are in the military or are the spouse of a service member and think divorce may be in your future, get all the specialized legal assistance you need. Retain the services of an attorney who understands military divorces today.
