It’s one thing to receive notice of mandatory attendance at an upcoming judicial hearing if you live a few blocks from the courthouse.
It’s quite another if you’re deployed on active duty as a military member serving in a remote overseas area.
Shouldn’t some reasonable exceptions apply concerning the latter scenario?
America lawmakers have long thought so, honoring military service by declining to hamper it with unfair civil obligations during its tenure.
In fact, an in-depth online overview stresses that Congress first acted to protect military members from unfair civil exactions more than 150 years ago, during the Civil War. And it subsequently codified safeguards through enactment of the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act prior to World War II.
The SCRA has been anything but limited and largely forgotten legislation since then, having been amended many times over the years. Its central protections include these:
- Stays of various court proceedings (e.g., matters linked to issues like child custody/support, delinquent debt and foreclosures)
- Stays/extensions or dismissals of adverse judgments
- Allowance for early lease termination
- Relief from judicial time bars relevant to certain claims and defenses (“tolling” of statutes of limitation)
The bottom-line rationale guiding the SCRA’s provisions underscores fairness to military members in Texas and nationally who might otherwise suffer material detriment while responding to various civil and family obligations.
Further information regarding the SCRA or a military-linked family law concern can be addressed to a proven and empathetic attorney team with demonstrated experience in that specialized legal sphere.