My friend is married to a man who was in the US military at the time of their marriage. He was involved in the Gulf War and after returning he left the forces. They lived together for a couple of years after that. She hasn’t seen him for ten years now and would like a divorce. It was pointed out to her that apparently if he rejoined the military (we don’t know) he could get into trouble for having been paid as a married man whereas he’s separated from his wife. Would this create a problem for him.
On a second note, she managed to find his address and phone number, called him but got the answer machine and so left a message. He’s not called back. How does a divorce work in this situation? She paid USD$80 to be furnished with information about him from some online service and was shocked to receive details of what he owes the IRS and how much he paid for his house.
Possibly. The only additional pay that he would get for being married is a higher BAH and, if deployed, Family Seperation Pay. If he didn’t say that he was married when he reenlisted then there’s no problem. If he did then at the very least he would have to repay the extra entitlements. Any additional adverse actions would be at the discretion of his commander. He could end up facing anything from an Article 15 (at the minimum) to a court martial. It really depends on a lot of things, from the husband’s service record, to whether or not his service branch is cracking down on fraud (it comes and goes in cycles), to if his commander wants to make an example of him (bringing the hammer down on a senior NCO makes more of an impression than coming down hard on a junior enlisted).
As far as the second question, he will have to be served with notice of the divorce action, and legal requirements for this vary from state to state. Also, she’s likely going to need protection as an innocent party to the IRS debt. Your friend should get a lawyer.
Did I miss something? If he is legally married, then he’s legally married as far as the military is concerned. To the best of my knowledge, he’s committing no crime by being in the military and receiving dependent entitlements (if he is, in fact, doing so).
flyboy They’ve not lived together or even in the same country for at least 10 years - does that matter at all? Could he have divorced her and she doesn’t know? We’re not sure he’s even back in the military, but it’s still an interesting question due to the dependent claim thing.
Not really shocking, as these are both public information. If the IRS files a tax lien against you, it’s published in whatever legal paper is in your area- I got stacks of 'em by my desk at work.
I’m not an admin guru for any of the services, so I can’t say definitively, but my understanding is that if he were to go back in, and was able to show proof via a marriage certificate, the service would consider him married. I don’t think they care about separation. I think they care about legal status. But I could be wrong.
If I’m right, it does open the door to weird scams wherein a divorced member can try to claim dependents by showing a marriage cert, and not mention the divorce paperwork. I’d imagine there’d be a check on that somehow, and if so I don’t know if that preventative measure would somehow prevent your particular scenario from happening (if they did actually care about separation). I’m trying to recall what the Navy wanted to see after I got married. It may be that they needed to see my wife in person in addition to the paperwork, but I don’t remember that being a particular step of the process.
Certainly after a time the member’s command would realize he’s not married or the spouse isn’t around (although that happens all the time in the military), but I can’t imagine that’s the official preventative check, if there is one. The security clearance background check is the only place where I can see the estrangement issue quickly coming to light, and even then, I don’t know if the military could deny him “with dependent” status. The closest I can come with google is Army Reg 680-300, which says
As to whether one party can divorce the other without the other’s input and/or knowledge, I have no idea, but am curious to find out.
Seems to me he wouldn’t be doing anything wrong - they are married. Apparently she only needs to publish something a few times in a US newspaper to see if he responds, then she can go ahead and get divorced on her own - he wouldn’t know - he might have done that.