Military: Access to courts when deployed.

Factual Questions
1

When US soldiers/sailors/airmen/marines/etc. are deployed overseas, they are clearly subject to US military law, which includes a criminal code. Are there civil and family provisions in this code if the serviceperson wants to sue another serviceperson civilly for damages, wants a divorce, etc.? Do overseas military bases have local civil codes with typical causes of action, e.g. a codified “Code of Rammstein Air Force Base” with legal causes of action for breach of contract, divorce, name change, personal injury, eviction, etc., and its own case law regarding alimony allotment? What about military dependents? If Mrs. Smith is living with her husband Corporal Smith who is deployed in Okinawa and she decides she wants a divorce, can she sue under any form of US federal, state, or territorial law or does she have to brave the Japanese legal system and get a local divorce and hope that it is respected at home? What happens if Ensign Jones is on an aircraft carrier en route from Hawaii to the Philippines and he wants to legally change his name? Can he file a request with the Captain or otherwise proceed with a recognized legal cause of action under US law or does he have to wait until the ship docks and then request a name change under Philippine law or else wait until he is fully back in the US?

What about US foreign service workers and their dependents? What about the militaries of other countries? For example, if a soldier of the Canadian Forces is stationed at a US NORAD installation and wants to sue another Canadian Forces soldier that is stationed there for not paying for all the poutine that he asked the first soldier to help him import, can he proceed under any form of Canadian Law?

2

The Uniform Code of Military Justice does not have provisions for civil law, such as filing a suit against another service member, nor does it have provisions for a military court to grant a divorce. The UCMJ does have provisions regarding enforcement of lawful orders and lawful regulations. Said regulations require the service member to honor court orders.

Depending on the state law, the civilian wife may be able to file suit for divorce while both parties are outside the territorial limits of the United States. Please note that US military installations are not US territory. Local law, such as in Japan, does provide for her to file for divorce in the Japanese courts. If the wife is not overseas, then she will apply for divorce in the local courts as provided for by state law.

For name change, generally, the service member must request a court, not a military court, to order the change. When that court order is issued, then the service member presents the court order to his servicing personnel administration section and they make the appropriate changes in the military’s records for the service member. Another method of changing the name is the traditional “taking the husband’s surname after marriage.” For that, the service member presents documentation (marriage certificate) to the personnel section requesting the military change the name in the military records. Until the approving authority grants that request, the service member must continue to use the original name for military purposes.

For a foreign member of a foreign military stationed in the US, then that person may be able to file civil actions under their home country’s law if such law permits that action. They may also be able to file action in the US courts.

The UCMJ doesn’t include a criminal code. It is a criminal code of federal law.

3

I am not a lawyer, but I was a Commander.

There’s like, a dozen questions in one paragraph, which has my eyes spinning, but anyway, normally Stateside, the if the military member is initiating a civil action, he/she’s either gotta do it through the local court system (i.e. a probate court in the Servicemember’s residential location) or the local JAG will know which civil system to go through if they live on base. IANAL, so all cases are different. Military members do have to indicate their home of record, so it is possible that they can file civil actions under their HOR jurisdiction. Monty is correct that the UCMJ is a criminal code of federal law.

A court will look what legal ability it has to adjudicate actions–this can be based on payment of taxes or residency; for example, my HOR is New Jersey, which is where I vote and pay State income taxes. I also own property in Georgia and Utah, so I have certain legal standings there. You can also be under a state’s jurisdiction if you were ordered to an area. I’m currently in Utah. If I went to file for a name change in Wisconsin, the judge would say, “Um, you have no real reason to be filing here, don’t live here, don’t own property here, so. . . um, sorry man. Pound sand.” I’ve seen this happen in a few divorce cases where one or the other party left the state for a period of time and the court said, “You’ve been gone so long, you’re out of our window. You don’t own property here, nor pay income tax. You don’t even have a drivers’ license here. You’ve got no ability to use this court.” It’s case by case, and state by state though.

Dependents do have legal rights, but civil actions, I’m not so sure about when they’re overseas. Again, the local JAGs may have to examine where the parties are claiming state citizenship. I haven’t been overseas yet, can’t answer definitively on that one.

Interesting note though, that the Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act can actually defend a Servicemember when a civil claim is brought against them. It prevents a default judgement from being laid against a Servicemember on occasions. If Ensign Jones is onboard that flattop and doesn’t get a notice to appear in a timely manner, and (obviously) can’t reasonably make a hearing, it prevents the court from saing, “Hey! He didn’t even bother to show up. Eff him!”

Tripler
Yes, it does get confusing.