Are You a Divorced (or Divorcing) Parent in the Military?

If you and/or your spouse are among the 1.3 million active duty U.S. military personnel, your divorce will be more complicated than a divorce for civilians. Especially if you and your spouse are parents and you wish to get divorced in Texas, you should hire a Texas attorney. If you want the best representation, you must be represented by a San Antonio child custody lawyer.

Approximately 75,000 couples divorce in Texas each year. If you are a parent, the court’s highest priority in your divorce proceeding will be the best interests of your child or children.

Military personnel have obligations and rights that are somewhat different from the obligations and rights of civilians. If you are divorcing in Texas and expecting a child custody dispute, retain the advice and services of a Texas family law attorney, preferably one from South TX Family Law, before you take any other legal steps.

Does Your Custody Agreement Provide for Overseas Deployments?

After your divorce, if you are serving overseas and you have a child custody agreement with your ex, your deployment could disrupt and undermine your existing agreement, and you may need the services of a San Antonio child custody attorney.

Before they deploy overseas, divorced parents who are service members should work with their child’s other parent, when possible, to develop a plan that describes who will provide care for the child while the service member is deployed overseas. In some cases, the parents may agree that the service member will be given alternative time with the child and, in other cases, sometimes the parents will agree that the grandparents may be permitted to use the service member’s period of possession while the service member is deployed.

If your child custody agreement is already in place and does not include a provision for overseas deployments, try to cooperate with your child’s other parent to modify the agreement in a way that is acceptable to both of you. A family care plan for divorced parents deployed overseas is required by the U.S Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force, and that plan must be kept up to date.

What is the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act?

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) provides both legal and financial protection to active-duty service members, including National Guard and reserve members and their families. As an active-duty service member, under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, you may:

  1. obtain a delay or stay of a civil court proceeding if your military service affects your ability to proceed in the case
  2. receive an automatic ninety-day stay in a civil court proceeding if requested in writing
  3. invoke your SCRA rights to postpone a custody hearing if your ex attempts to change your child custody agreement while you are deployed overseas

Could You Lose the Custody of Your Child or Children?

All fifty states protect the child custody rights of active-duty service members. State laws vary, but every state enforces one or more of the following provisions to ensure that absences caused by overseas deployments alone do not trigger changes in child custody arrangements:

  1. Past, current, and potential future absences due to overseas deployments cannot be the sole basis for altering a custody order.
  2. No permanent changes to existing custody arrangements may be made while the custodial parent is deployed overseas.
  3. The custody order in place before a parent’s deployment should be reinstated upon the parent’s return unless there is proof that the best interests of the child would be at risk. In these cases, the non-deployed parent bears the burden of proof.

What Does Texas Law Provide?

Texas law allows a parent to request temporary child custody orders during an overseas deployment if the parents cannot agree informally. If the deployment substantially alters a parent’s ability to exercise parental rights and duties, the court may issue temporary orders regarding child custody and child support payments.

For instance, a temporary order may allow the deployed parent to assign another party, such as a grandparent, to care for the child until the parent returns from the deployment, at which time the temporary order would no longer be in effect.

Additionally, either parent may request a temporary change to child support payments based on temporary income changes during an overseas deployment. If you make this request, a San Antonio custody lawyer can prepare the legal paperwork and represent you before the court. A court order is recommended in cases where an informal agreement has been made regarding a period of possession to ensure that one party does not change their mind in the future. A court order is essential if there is an agreement to alter child support.

Should You Seek to Modify the Child Support Payment Amount During a Deployment?

Depending on the details of an overseas deployment, a military parent may receive hazardous duty pay and/or separation allowances. This additional pay is considered income, so if you receive child support payments, you could request an increase in the monthly payment amount.

However, additional pay during a deployment is only temporary, and obtaining a child support order modification could cost you more than the increased child support you would receive.

You will need the advice of a San Antonio child custody attorney before you ask for any modification of the court’s child support order. Your attorney will help you determine if going to court in this situation is worth the effort.

What Else Should Divorced Military Parents Know?

Texas law does not tolerate violations of custody orders and visitation orders without cause and without prior agreement. For instance, hiding a child from the child’s other parent is illegal in most Texas counties, whether or not the parents have existing custody or visitation orders.

If you and your spouse cannot agree on how your child will be cared for while you are deployed overseas (or while your spouse is deployed overseas), consult an attorney at South TX Family Law. We have considerable experience resolving child custody and child support disputes.

Meet the South TX Family Law Team

At South TX Family Law, San Antonio child custody lawyer Laura D. Heard heads up an experienced team of family law professionals. We will review your options, explain your rights, and answer your questions about child custody and overseas deployment.

Attorney Laura D. Heard represents clients in San Antonio and across South Texas and the Texas Hill Country in every type of family law dispute. Whether you are divorcing, establishing paternity, or fighting for the custody of your child, attorney Laura D. Heard will bring the matter to its best possible outcome.

If you are fighting for your child’s custody, need to modify your custody or child support order, or if you need to know more about your rights while you are deployed overseas, call 210-775-0353 today to schedule a consultation with the team at South TX Family Law.