Military Divorce Mediation in Scottsdale, Arizona

That is a great question to bring to a coaching session because military divorce involves a layer of federal law that sits on top of Arizona family law and the intersection of the two requires careful navigation. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides certain protections to active duty service members including the ability to request a stay of divorce proceedings while deployed. Military pensions are divided under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act which has its own rules and procedures entirely separate from how civilian retirement accounts are divided. And deployment creates unique parenting time challenges that require specific planning. In a coaching session I work with you to understand the full picture before you make any decisions.

That is a great issue to resolve in mediation because the division of a military pension involves both Arizona community property law and federal law and getting it wrong has long term financial consequences for both parties. A military pension earned during the marriage is generally treated as community property in Arizona to the extent it was earned during the marriage. The division is handled through a military retired pay division order which is different from the qualified domestic relations order used for civilian retirement accounts. The calculation requires careful analysis of total years of service and the years of service that overlap with the marriage. A coaching session helps you understand what you are entitled to before you sit down to negotiate. If both parties are willing, mediation is where the pension division gets worked out by two people who understand what they are agreeing to rather than left to a judge.

That is a great issue to work through in a coaching session before the deployment happens if at all possible because planning ahead makes an enormous difference. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act allows a deployed service member to request a delay in court proceedings which means your divorce timeline may be affected in ways you need to understand and prepare for. On the parenting side, mediation handles military family parenting plans very well because both parties can build a flexible plan together that reflects the realities of military life. A court order is rarely flexible enough to accommodate the unpredictability of a military schedule. A mediated parenting plan can be.

That is a great question to bring to a coaching session because while the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act does provide real protections to active duty service members it is not a shield that allows a military spouse to avoid a divorce indefinitely. There are limits to how long proceedings can be stayed and there are steps you can take to protect your interests during a delay. In a coaching session I work with you as your advocate to understand your rights and how to keep your case moving forward within the bounds of what the law allows. If both parties are willing to resolve things without prolonged litigation, mediation can proceed even during a deployment with the right structure in place.