Divorce and Military Families

The stress faced by military  families, frequent moves and deployments can spell disaster for military families. For you, as for most families, divorce can be a life tragedy. You and your spouse entered into marriage with plans for a happy and long future. Perhaps you have children who are young and vulnerable. Divorce can leave your children feeling afraid and uncertain about their future. It can also leave you feeling vulnerable and lost, particularly if you are far from home, without the support of friends and family.

A frequent question asked by military spouses is whether they have to file for divorce in the State where they are based and their children are living, or whether they can file in Michigan. This is particularly true when Michigan is the place they call "Home."

People do not lose their residency in Michigan just because they are in the military. Thus, no matter where you are stationed, whether on a base in the United States or abroad, if Michigan is your home, you can file for divorce in Michigan.

Residency is a matter of intent. Some indicia of intent are:

• Do you and your spouse have a Michigan driver's license?
• Are you registered to vote in Michigan?
• Do you own real estate in Michigan?
• Do you have personal property that is stored in Michigan?

If you can answer yes to some of these questions, you can prove your intent to retain Michigan as your home state.

This question becomes even more important if you are stationed abroad. You cannot get a divorce in a foreign country when you are not a citizen of the country. If you've continued to call Michigan "Home," however, you can get a divorce in Michigan.

There are other issues of concern to military families where divorce is contemplated. For more information, see Jeanne Hannah's website.

Comments

[Jeanne M Hannah]

Sgt. Kerr,

I agree with your comments. If contested, jurisdiction over child custody - but no other issues - will be where the children live. Since this leads to expensive litigation, most people choose to resolve the issues as did you and your former spouse -- by consent.

However, in terms of enforcement -- that's a whole separate issue. If you are having enforcement problems, please telephone me to talk about them. I can point you in the right direction so that you will be able to enforce a Michigan Order no matter where you reside.

The beauty of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and ENFORCEMENT Act is that if the custodial parent refuses to comply with the parenting time provisions and the NCP has to file enforcement proceedings, the parent violating the order can be made to pay the reasonable costs, fees, and related expenses incurred by the other parent. This is usually a good deterrent to future violations.
Jeanne Hannah

[Nathan J Kerr, Sergeant First Class, USA]

I agree with what was written to an extent. I filed for a divorce in Michigan while stationed in Fort Hood, TX. I was later told that the legal place to file was Texas because of the interstate child rules that state the jurisdiction is where the kids currently live. I disputed this on the grounds that according to my military records, my "Home of Record" is Michigan. That is why I am able to keep a Michigan License, register and tag my vehicles there, vote, pay taxes, etc using my "home of record" address. During the census count, I am counted as one of the millions that live in Michigan.

It was eventually settled in my favor outside of court, but this is a tricky issue. However, if you are father in the military, you may be better off filing outside of Michigan since chances are you willo not have custody and Michigan is toothless in enforcing non-custodial parenting time etc.