Child support when one parent is in the military: Part I

Many Alexandria City, Virginia residents have enlisted in the military and are even deployed to foreign countries or out of state in order to fulfill their duty to the nation. However, a lot of military personnel also go through the same personal problems as their civilian counterparts, such as divorce, child custody and child support.

Military personnel do have some unique legal issues due to their complicated situations in such cases. In most cases, it must be noted that the military typically does not interfere with the personal family law matters of its military personnel. In fact, the military personnel going through a child support issue might find it helpful to contact an experienced family law attorney to guide the person through various legal issues.

The Social Security Act has created a special law for military personnel going through a divorce and a child support case. The program is known as the Child Support Program, which is also often called the IV-D. Through the Office of the Child Support Enforcement agency, authorities can help the military personnel along with their attorneys to obtain and help process the child support case.

The program offers various services to the military personnel in order to help them. Such services include:

• Encouraging military personnel to help them to obtain a child support order
• Spread awareness regarding the services available through the program
• Help the military personnel to obtain reasonable child support
• Oversee, if necessary, any missed payments
• Notify the non-custodial parent regarding the late payment
• Modify the child support order in the event that the non-custodial parent can justify it

Matters of child support can be stressful on their own, but military life can magnifying the stress even more. Seeking the assistance of an experienced attorney can help decrease the amount of stress involved and hopefully lead to a positive outcome.

Source: ACF.HHS.gov, "A handbook for military families: helping you with child support," accessed on Aug. 18, 2015