im a sgt e-5 with five and a half years in the military. Im going through a separation stage with my wife but im recently in iraq. I will not finalize the divorce until i get back home, just want to know if anyone knows the exact amount of money a military wife is authorized with out the husband getting into any trouble. any advice would help thankyou. i want to do the right thing

I do believe you must pay her BAH type 2 for your area,thats the without dependants rate. thats what i had to do in my divorce, but it would probly be best to talk to legal.

BAH Type II sounds right for the separation phase, but when I finalized with my ex-wife, it was up to the state we divorced in unless there is something pre-arranged.

I divorced in Georgia, and I was ordered to pay $528.00 for two children. We had separation papers drawn up amongst ourselves and they were transferred into the divorce. I can't speak for legal, nor would I want to, but it made it easy. If you guys can come up to an ammicable solution on the separation of personal property and such, then you should draft a separation agreement with all of that info in there. Then when you (or she) files in the courts, that can be used in the divorce decree.

I hope this helps. I know being in Iraq poses other unique complications. My separation started before I left and was put on hold while I was there, then we filed as soon as I returned.

thanks a lot for all the responses i just came back from legal and they say i have to give her 684.00 a month

I got divorced in Georgia and the lawyer will take a copy of your LES and base the amount of child support on your base pay and if your wife is working and her paycheck. There is some legal ratio that they work into the amount of child support per percentage of gross income. I was a E6 and had 3 kids so for me it worked out to be like 750.00 a month. But the previous comments are right on, if you can make it applicable on both sides it will make the process less painful. Not saying it will be easy, just the less headache will allow you to focus on the big changes ahead, especially with the kids. In the state of georgia it is not required to attend in court during the divorce hearing. Only if there is some kind of legal contesting of the decree. I am not a legal expert but as soon as you get home and settled you need to seek a divorce lawyer so you do not get thrown under the bus. The other spouse will say just about anything to get out of the situation but as soon as it is completed and done with there will be a significant change as far as her attitude, especially concering the issue of money, child support, who pays this bill, who is responsible for this credit card, etc. So get legal representation as soon as possible. Make sure that all assets that were created "jointly" like credit cards and payments (cars) are split down the middle or assigned a specific person responsible for. Because the companies will not care about who did what or charged what, they know that you are in the service and make a steady paycheck. Just make sure you got your back covered because in divorce you can get a knife in the back very quickly. Been there done that.....

Iraq Vet

SFC Mac'