Going through a divorce in San Diego is never easy, but when your military spouse is stationed overseas, it can feel nearly impossible to know where to start. At Primus Family Law Group, our team of Certified Family Law Specialists have over 50 years combined experience helping military families through these tough situations, and we want you to know that getting divorced is absolutely possible – even when your spouse is on the other side of the world.

Serving the Divorce Papers on Your Spouse

This is often the trickiest part. You can’t just mail divorce papers to someone overseas. The military has special mail systems, and sometimes you’ll need to work through your spouse’s commanding officer to make sure they actually receive the documents.

Don’t worry about the details – this is something we at Primus Family Law Group handle regularly, and we know exactly how to get your papers delivered properly.

What About Military Protections?

Here’s something important to understand: the military has laws that protect service members from legal proceedings they can’t attend because of their duties. This is called the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

Your spouse can ask the court to delay the divorce if being overseas prevents them from participating. But this doesn’t mean your divorce gets stuck forever. The court will only grant delays if your spouse can prove their military duties truly prevent them from dealing with the divorce.  Usually, if they have an attorney, most issues can still be resolved or addressed in court.

Dividing Military Benefits and Money

Military divorces involve benefits that regular divorces don’t have to worry about:

Retirement Pay: If you were married while your spouse served in the military, you might be entitled to part of their military retirement. There’s something called the “10/10 rule” – if you were married for at least 10 years while they served for at least 10 years, you can get payments of your share of his retirement directly from the military.

Health Insurance: You might be able to keep military health coverage after divorce, but it depends on how long you were married and how long your spouse served.

Life Insurance: Decisions about military life insurance benefits need to be made carefully during the divorce and we at Primus Family Law Group, are here to help you figure this out.

Children and Custody Issues

If you have kids, custody gets more complicated when one parent is overseas. Military schedules are unpredictable, service members can be reassigned anywhere at any time, and can be gone for extended period of time..

The good news is that military pay is steady and reliable for child support. The challenging part is creating custody arrangements that work when one parent might be deployed for months at a time.

Why You Need Help with This

Military divorce isn’t like regular divorce. You’re dealing with federal laws, state laws, and military regulations all at the same time. It’s complicated, and trying to handle it alone often leads to costly mistakes.

At Primus Family Law Group, we’ve been helping military families for decades. We understand that military life comes with unique challenges and sacrifices. We also know that service members and their families deserve legal help that respects their service while protecting their future.

You Can Get Through This

Divorcing a spouse who’s stationed overseas feels overwhelming, but thousands of military families go through this process successfully every year. With Primus Family Law Group on your side, we can protect your interests and those of your children while respecting the legal protections that exist for service members.