The Military Divorce Handbook: A Practical Guide to Representing Military Personnel and Their Families, Third Edition - Softcover

Sullivan, Mark E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1641053305 ISBN 13: 9781641053303

Publisher: American Bar Association, 2019

Synopsis

Now completely revised and significantly expanded, The Military Divorce Handbook continues to be the go-to resource for understanding the issues involved and effectively representing military personnel and their spouses in domestic situations--divorce, separation, custody, support, and division of property. This timely and much-needed addition to a family lawyer's library is both comprehensive and practical, covering all aspects of representing servicemembers and their spouses in divorce in an accessible, easy-to-use format.

When a divorce action involves a military client, there are special issues that arise which make these cases more difficult. The Military Divorce Handbook guides you through the complexities of all aspects of representing military personnel or their spouses to help you provide competent and thorough representation for your client. Key chapters explain the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), military tax issues, and the important issue of dividing military retirement benefits. Also covered are the difficult and increasingly important issues of custody and domestic violence involving servicemembers.

Explaining complex issues in clear, current and concise language, Mark E. Sullivan provides numerous Practice Tips throughout the text to make your practice easier and more efficient. Relevant appendices are included at the end of the chapter, and in this two-volume edition, hundreds of additional pages of additional material are available to readers online. This fully updated edition includes extensive new information, including:

• An expanded section about rules and resources for getting documents from the government under the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act
• A new glossary of cases on the SRCA, a chart showing the new statutory sections for the Act since its codification by Congress in 2015, and new information on how to search the Defense Department’s on-line database for whether a party is serving in the military
• A section-by-section analysis of the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act and an expanded section on international kidnaping remedies and the Hague Abduction Convention
• Resources on domestic abuse and the Family Advocacy Program, a section on Article 128b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice that makes domestic violence a new criminal offence, and information on representation for sexual assault victims and compensation for domestic-abuse victims
• New sections on the Blended Retirement System and the Supreme Court’s Howell decision and VA indemnification, new rules about the amendment to the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act which freezes the divisible pension on the date of divorce (the Frozen Benefit Rule), esources for understanding military retired pay, and an expanded section on reduction in grade at retirement due to misconduct

Now in its third edition, The Military Divorce Handbook continues to be a pertinent resource and a helpful legal guide for attorneys handling family law cases in the military context. The hands-on knowledge contained in this accessible handbook is essential for family lawyers so they can provide professional representation for their client, whether servicemember or spouse.

About this title

About the Author

Mark E. Sullivan is the principal of Law Offices of Mark E. Sullivan, P.A. in Raleigh, North Carolina.  A retired Army Reserve JAG colonel and a Board-Certified Specialist in Family Law, Mr. Sullivan is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and author of The Military Divorce Handbook, (American Bar Association).  He was co-founder of the military committee of the North Carolina State Bar in 1981, and is past chair of the Military Committee of the ABA Family Law Section.  He received the ABA’s Grassroots Advocacy Award in 2014 for his work on military custody statutes and the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act.  He assists attorneys nationwide in drafting military pension division orders and consulting on military divorce issues.

Edition details

• Publisher: American Bar Association
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1641053305
• ISBN 13: 9781641053303
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 1270