Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

I am just initiating the process to divorce my husband who has been serving in the USN for nearly 18 years. We will be married for 11 years as of May 14, 2015. My husband is stating that he is filing for a retroactive date because our marriage basically ended when he was deployed on February 14, 2014. My concern is that if he does file retroactively, how will it affect the portion of disposable retirement pay that I could be entitled to? That will mean that we would have only been married for 9 years and 9 months. Should I delay this until we have been married for 10 years? I am insisting that we be divorced as quickly as possible so that I may move on with my life but I do not want to lose out on pay that I could possibly get. If I agree to the retroactive date just to get this resolved quicker, can a judge overrule our decision and make us file using a different date? Specifically, a date that would show us married for 10 years?


Asked on 1/28/15, 6:37 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

No, even though your husband believes that your marriage ended about a year

ago when he went on naval deployment, it means nothing in terms of

the law since you remained legally married even after this deployment and will

remain so until a Virginia Circuit Court enters a final decree of divorce formally and finally dissolving your marriage at some future date and which will not be based upon some retroactively filed complaint which your husband erroneously believes that he can now file.

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Answered on 1/28/15, 9:28 pm


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