Divorce Advice for Men | Fathers Rights Divorce | Child Custody

Question:

It has just come to my attention that I have overpaid my child support payments due to an incorrect wage garnishment of my military pay above the court-ordered amount.

I filed the request months ago to stop my military wage garnishments and was told they would stop. I later found out the person helping me at the child support division failed to file the necessary paperwork resulting in the overpayments.

How can I get this child support situation rectified and receive credit for the overpayments already made because of the child support office's error?

By Julie Garrison

Special to DadsDivorce.com

A previous divorce article looked at the widespread issue of divorced dads in the military losing child custody while on deployment.

Most military dads are unaware that they could lose custody during their deployments, even with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), which was designed to provide protection to active members of the armed forces from civil actions back home.

However, the SCRA was ambiguous in its language about handling child custody matters, resulting in many military fathers continuing to lose custody of their children while deployed.

By Julie Garrison

Special to DadsDivorce.com

There are thousands of child custody cases in the U.S. involving military dads who have lost custody of their children while on deployment.

During World War II, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act was enacted, which provided protections for Americans serving in all branches of the military.

It gave service members reduced interest rates on mortgage payments and credit cards, protection from eviction under certain scenarios, and delay of all civil court actions, such as bankruptcy, foreclosure or divorce proceedings.

But there was nothing in this legislation that protected fathers rights to custody while they were deployed.

Question:

I am finishing up my military duties and am looking to adjust my child support.

Once I leave the military, I will be returning to school full time in order to finish my college education.

How do I go about modifying child support to reflect my new situation of being out of the military and a full-time student?

Question:

I have a jurisdiction question about where to file for divorce if I am active duty military stationed overseas.

My wife cheated on me while we were on base so I want to file in a state that has grounds for adultery because I don't think she should be able to get half of my retirement and other favorable results as a result of her infidelity.

I enlisted in one state, I've lived in another state, and my children were born in another state so I've never really had a "home state."

Where should I file? If I file for divorce first does that bind her to that state or can she file in another state?