Do you specialize in military divorce? When you hire an attorney, you probably want to know that the attorney you’ve hired (or are considering hiring) has experience with cases similar to yours. This is especially true for military spouses. In some ways, I find it a little silly, to be honest. After all, a divorce is a divorce, and, in Virginia, regardless of whether you’re military or civilian, there are only so many options available to you. It’s not like military divorce is this magical … [Read more...]
Dividing Retirement Accounts in Divorce
Dividing Retirement Accounts in Virginia Divorce Divorce is complicated because it touches on so many different things. Of all the things that come immediately to mind – like child custody, spousal support, and the marital residence – retirement is one of the biggest and most important elements of your divorce. Men often like to say that their retirement is their own because they earned it. Sometimes, they even work really hard to spread misinformation – like that their spouse isn’t entitled … [Read more...]
New Blended Military Retirement
Military retirement is changing, and gone are the days where we could determine what a person’s total retirement benefit would be if we knew a few things, like rank, years of service, and base pay. Beginning in January 2019, new military service members who join the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, or reserves will become a part of the new blended retirement system. The blended retirement system is more similar to the system for federal employees, and has been touted by the … [Read more...]
The Thrift Savings Plan in Virginia Military Divorce
The TSP, or Thrift Savings Plan, is the federal government’s version of a 401(k) plan. Military service members, members of the reserves, and other federal employees are entitled to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan. Retirement accounts, as you probably already know, are super important in divorce cases. If we’re talking about equitable distribution (the fancy word we use in Virginia to describe how property can be divided), retirement accounts are often one of the first issues people … [Read more...]
