Jacksonville Divorce Lawyer Blog
A recent article in the Army Times compared the divorce rates of the four major service branches for the past year. Jacksonville, Florida and the North Florida area serve as bases to thousands of military couples and families. Unfortunately, like many others throughout the country, divorce rates involving Florida service members are quite high. At Wood, Atter & Wolf, we have represented a number of military spouses in issues including divorce, paternity, child support, child custody, and, in some cases, domestic violence.
While the Navy’s divorce rate decreased significantly and the Air Force’s rate remained about the same, both the Army and the Marines reported an increase in divorces among service members. Female soldiers suffered a divorce rate more than two times that of their male counterparts. The total number of divorces for all services combined was 27,312 out of nearly 800,000 married soldiers on active duty. This 3.6 annual divorce rate is a full percentage point above the rate measured in 2001, when the US started sending troops to Afghanistan.
The increasing rate is despite efforts by the military to help couples stay together. The military offers programs for struggling couples that focus on strengthening relationships and enriching family bonds. The programs are run by chaplains, mental health officials and family services agencies, and include retreats, counseling, workshops and other programs. A spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars said that when you throw eight years of war and separation into a relationship it has a tremendous impact on the family. Read more of the statistics on military divorces at Military Divorces continue to increase.
If your marriage is troubled, please contact our firm to discuss your options.