RMED FORCES FAMILY LAW
Separation is different when one of you serves
Service accommodation, an Armed Forces pension, an assignment order and a deployment schedule all change what separation looks like — and most family solicitors see these issues rarely. We are twenty minutes from HMNB Clyde (Faslane) and we see them regularly
THE SITUATION YOU’RE IN
Why service families need different advice
Every separation is difficult. A service separation adds problems a civilian couple never encounters, and most of them are on a clock.
Your housing is tied to a status category that your spouse can change. The largest asset in the marriage is usually a pension you cannot see the value of without asking for it. One of you may be posted three hundred miles away before anything is agreed. And decisions taken in the first few weeks — where proceedings are raised, when you are treated as having separated — can be worth more than everything argued about afterwards.
Advice that treats your case as an ordinary divorce with a uniform attached will cost you.
THE ISSUES THAT MATTER MOST
Where you stand and where you live
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This is the single most important issue for a service family at Faslane, and the one most often missed.
Many personnel posted to HMNB Clyde (Faslane) are not originally from Scotland. If one of you is domiciled elsewhere in the UK, or has not yet been habitually resident here long enough, it may be possible to raise proceedings in more than one jurisdiction — and Scots law and English law produce materially different outcomes on the same facts.
In broad terms, Scots law looks at what was built up between the date of marriage and the date of separation, generally excluding what either of you brought in or inherited, and it takes a considerably more restrained view of long-term maintenance than the courts in England. Depending on which side of that you sit, that difference can run to a very substantial sum.
Where more than one court could take the case, it can matter a great deal who raises proceedings first. If you are considering separating and either of you has a connection to another part of the UK, this is a conversation to have early rather than after papers arrive.
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If you live in SFA and your marriage ends, your entitlement to that home ends with it.
Once the serving person's Personal Status Category changes to separated, the non-serving spouse is normally issued with a Notice to Vacate giving 93 days. A cooling-off period of up to 93 days may be authorised first, during which the serving person can move into single living accommodation while the family remains in the quarter. If children remain with the serving person, entitlement may continue; if they leave with the non-serving spouse, it does not.
Ninety-three days is not long to find a home, particularly in Helensburgh and the Rosneath peninsula. If you are the non-serving spouse, the practical questions — where the children will go to school, whether you stay in the area at all, what interim financial support looks like — need answering before that notice is served, not after.
We can also advise on whether leaving before the notice expires affects a homelessness application to the local authority, which is a trap people fall into by trying to be accommodating.
WHAT COMES NEXT
Your pension, your children, your privacy
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In most service separations the pension is the largest asset in the marriage — frequently worth more than any house.
Armed Forces Pension Scheme benefits are matrimonial property in Scotland to the extent that they were built up during the marriage, and they can be shared on divorce. Getting this right requires the correct valuation from Veterans UK, a proper apportionment of the part referable to the marriage, and a considered decision about whether a pension share, an offset against other assets, or a combination serves you best.
It is also the item most often given away cheaply, by a spouse who wants the house and does not appreciate what they are trading, or by a serving person who assumes the pension is untouchable. Neither assumption is safe.
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Standard contact arrangements assume both parents stay put. Service life does not.
We help parents build arrangements that survive real conditions: block contact around leave and shore periods, provision for deployment and sea time, indirect contact where distance makes anything else impossible, and sensible handover arrangements where one parent is now several hours away.
Where an assignment order would move a child out of Scotland altogether, or where one parent wishes to return to family elsewhere in the UK after separating, that is a relocation case and it needs to be handled carefully and quickly. Courts do not look kindly on a parent who moves first and asks afterwards.
Where a Children's Hearing is also involved, we act in that forum too.
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Service communities are small, and Helensburgh is smaller than most.
We are not on the base. Appointments can be taken at our Alexandria office, by video, or outside normal hours where a duty pattern requires it. Your file is confidential and we do not discuss cases with anyone in your chain of command unless you instruct us to.
FEES
What it costs
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We act for service families on a private basis, with fees agreed at the outset and in writing
You will know what a piece of work costs before we do it, and you will not receive a bill that surprises you. Where a matter is straightforward, we will say so and price it accordingly. Where it is not, we will tell you that too.
FAQ’S
Question? We have answers
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Usually yes. Being outside Scotland does not necessarily prevent proceedings here, provided the jurisdictional test is met. We can take instructions by video and email.
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Not immediately, and not without the proper notice. Speak to us before you move out — leaving early can affect both your housing options and your position on the children.
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No. Scots law looks at the proportion referable to the marriage, and how it is dealt with depends on the whole financial picture.
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Cohabitants in Scotland have limited rights, and the time limits are short — one year from separation to apply to court. If you have been living together at a service address, speak to us quickly.
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Possibly, but time is critical. Contact us the day you find out.
CONTACT US TODAY
Speak to us before decisions are made for you
The first conversation costs you nothing and will tell you where you stand. Call 01389 756785, or leave your details and we will call you back at a time that suits your duty pattern.
Jonathan Paul Solicitors · 102 Main Street, Alexandria · serving Helensburgh, Garelochhead, Rosneath and the wider Argyll and Bute area.
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Let's talk about your case
A confidential first conversation, at no obligation. Tell us what's happened — we'll tell you exactly where you stand and what happens next.
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