Military families encounter many challenges as they strive to balance everyday family life with the duties of the military service member in the household. It’s a way of life that can undoubtedly cause stress and can also place a strain on the marital relationship. Many spouses decide that the strain is too great, and it would be better to file for a divorce when their marriage is beyond repair.
Couples who have at least one spouse in the military must be thorough when crafting a child custody agreement in divorce. If you’re preparing to navigate this process, you’ll want to make good use of the military family care plan (FCP). An FCP helps provide for your children when their military parent’s obligations require an overseas deployment.
An FCP helps create a solid child custody agreement in a military divorce
While you’re serving a deployment overseas, your children’s daily lives will keep moving forward back at home. You must address issues regarding their daily care, school, their health and more, and provide for them while you’re away. This is especially true if you are the primary custodial parent in a divorce.
An FCP covers many of these issues and you can incorporate them into your child custody plan. You can designate an alternate caregiver to take custody of your kids while you’re away. You can also specify instructions for things like daily routine, discipline or management of child-related finances, such as a weekly allowance.
Include important information in your FCP
As part of your family care plan and military divorce, you can include a list of priority contacts, such as grandparents, a pediatrician, your children’s school administrators, approved babysitters and other people whose services and assistance might be needed when you’re away. You might also want to request your commanding officer’s signature for an agent letter of authorization, which gives your caregiver access to facilities on base.
Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act
Whether or not you have finalized your divorce before deploying on active duty overseas, you’ll be glad to know that the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act prevents child custody or other divorce-related legal proceedings from taking place when you are unable to be present in person. This means, for example, that your ex cannot sue you for custody or request modification of an existing child custody order while you are overseas.
A family care plan and other child custody tools make a military divorce manageable and can help minimize stress and disruption in your children’s lives. You can tap into resources both on and off base for guidance and support regarding these and other issues that can help your family navigate divorce proceedings.
