Tuscon Arizona Family Law Blog

As a member of the armed forces, you should know that there are legal protections available to you that are not available to civilians. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act exists so that you can get the legal help you need when you need it. The SCRA covers a lot; it even offers protections if you end up getting a divorce during the time you are on active duty.

What benefits does the SCRA offer military members living in Arizona? What protections does it provide? How exactly can it help when getting a divorce?

The decision to divorce can be difficult to make; this is especially true when children are involved. The concerned Arizona parent wants to ensure that the children are properly taken care of financially and emotionally. How the divorce will affect the children is often a primary consideration in the overall decision to divorce and the child custody arrangements that will follow.

Legal custody and physical custody are often what parents think of when it comes to child custody. In many instances, one parent will maintain physical custody with the other parent having visitation rights. Along with this arrangement, it is common for both parents to share legal custody where both parents are still responsible for making the major decisions regarding the child.

Preparing for a wedding or a divorce can both be emotional times. When emotions are running high, it is easy to make decisions that have not been fully thought out. In order to avoid problems caused by emotional decision-making, some Arizona residents find that working with a family law attorney to create a prenuptial agreement can assist them in working through important details prior to the wedding and then being prepared just in case things don't work out later on.

As couples wait to walk down the aisle, it is likely that each individual has already financially established him or herself. In many cases, one or both individuals has established investment accounts and acquired assets such as a home or other property. Additionally, it is possible that one or both individuals also have debt that will be brought into the marriage. The prenuptial agreement offers each individual an avenue to discuss both assets and liabilities and with individual philosophies regarding these issues.

Arizona members of the U.S. military understand when they sign up that they will be making many personal sacrifices. They spend months or years away from their loved ones and often feel out of place when they return. What they may not expect is that their service would affect child custody issues if their marriages end in military divorce.

Theoretically, one's status as a member of the armed forces should not result in the loss of custody of the children. However, because the standard for deciding custody issues is the best interests of the children, many factors must be considered when a court rules on a parenting schedule. While its intentions may be to provide a balance of time for the children to spend with each parent, the court may see deployment and relocation as a disruption to a child's life.