What is a military divorce?

If you or your spouse serves in the armed forces, there are many pressures on your relationship, whether it's a marriage or a civil partnership.

Sadly, long separations and other difficulties can lead to the breakdown of relationships; and if that day comes, you'll need expert advice to help negotiate the challenges of a military divorce.

As you might expect, the law regarding the end of the marriage itself is the same as for any civilian couple, in that the only grounds for a divorce is the irretrievable breakdown of marriage presented through a statement of irretrievable breakdown.

Why are military divorces more complex?

There are three main factors that make military divorces more complicated than civilian divorces:

• Housing and Child arrangements: Where one of you is posted abroad for example, and the divorce or separation means that children may not be able to continue living in service accommodation or even in the same country as one parent

• Boarding School Allowances: Where the minimum parental contribution for school costs changes after divorce

• Military Pensions: These can be far more complicated than other types of pensions, making it harder to establish a fair Financial Settlement on divorce.

With so many types of military pensions available – from AFPS 1975 to RFPS 05 - there is a lot of information to consider.

However, it is worth noting that courts have a number of ways in which they can structure Divorce Financial Settlements in cases of military divorce.

These include:

• No settlement: Where both parties can have a clean break because they have similar pension arrangements

• Offsetting: Where the value of pension rights is kept by whoever has earned them, and the other party gets a bigger share of other assets in order to achieve a fair settlement.

• Attachment: (in England and Wales) and Earmarking Orders (in Scotland) Where one party receives money either as a lump sum or regular payments from their former spouse's pension

• Pension sharing: Where a former spouse gets to share a pension, making them a member of the scheme in their own right

The range of pension options alone mean that getting expert military divorce advice at the earliest opportunity is essential, whether you are in the military yourself or are getting divorced from someone in the military.

Why choose Slater and Gordon's military divorce lawyers?

At Slater and Gordon, our military divorce lawyers have the experience to help you deal with every scenario. The law for ending the marriage is the same as for civilians, the complexities of military life and pensions means that you need to take expert legal advice.

How your divorce is handled will affect the rest of your life: from your relationships with any children you might have to your ability to retire with a decent pension.

We offer a 30 minute, fixed fee consultation for £99 so talk to one of our military divorce lawyers today by calling 0330 041 5869 or or contact us online today and we will call you.

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