On behalf of Stange Law Firm, PC posted in Military Divorce on Friday, September 29, 2017.
Military life in Illinois carries high stress circumstances at times. Deployments, change of station moves and high operational tempo can all put pressure on a marriage and make divorce more likely. Of the branches of service, the Air Force has had the highest rates of divorce since 2011.
According to the Defense Manpower Data Center, enlisted airmen had a divorce rate of 4.3 percent as of 2013. The same data indicate that the divorce rate was lower for officers, at 1.5 percent, and highest for enlisted women. The Rand Corporation reported finding a correlation between total time spent deployed and the likelihood of divorce in military marriages. An analysis conducted by Air Force Times came to similar conclusions.
In 2011, the rate of divorce for enlisted women was 8.4 percent, but the statistics show a downtrend. In 2013, for example, the enlisted women divorce rate was down to 7.6 percent. The rates for enlisted men dropped from 3.8 percent to 3.6 percent over the same period. Divorce rates for officers are generally lower, but they have shown a similar pattern. In 2011, male officer divorce rates were 1.4 percent and they were 1.2 percent in 2013. For female officers, the rates were 3.4 percent in 2011 and 3.2 percent in 2013.The Air Force has initiated processes to deal with the issue, including Marriage Checkup programs being tested at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Wilford Hall at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
People in the military who are contemplating or going through a divorce may want to meet with a lawyer. A lawyer with experience in military family law may be able to help by identifying and organizing assets and liabilities or by negotiating property division.
