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(510) 351-5345
2777 Alvarado Street, Suite E
San Leandro, CA 94577
2777 Alvarado Street, Suite E
San Leandro, CA 94577
Divorce is never simple—but for military families, it’s a tactical and legal minefield that most civilian attorneys don’t know how to navigate. From deployment-related custody complications to complex pension divisions and benefits eligibility, military divorce demands federal and state-level legal precision. At Bagner Law, located in San Leandro and serving military families in Hayward and Castro Valley, we know how to handle these high-stakes cases the right way—because we’ve seen what happens when they’re handled the wrong way. Whether you’re filing while active-duty or divorcing someone in uniform, here are five questions that can make or break your outcome. Don’t assume divorce law treats service members like civilians—because it doesn’t.
You can, but you must follow strict legal protocols or risk getting your entire case thrown out. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act allows deployed military members to delay legal proceedings if service prevents them from appearing or responding properly. That means one misstep in how or when you serve papers could lead to months of delay—or worse, a dismissal. At Bagner Law, we help clients in San Leandro, Hayward, and Castro Valley file and serve divorce petitions with the timing, language, and documentation courts and military regulations demand. Your petition must survive both California family court scrutiny and federal compliance—because failing either puts your case in limbo.
Yes—and if you don’t count all of it, you’re either overpaying or being underpaid. California courts include base pay, housing allowances, hazard pay, bonuses, and other entitlements when calculating child and spousal support. Military LES statements can be confusing, but they are absolutely enforceable when reviewed correctly. We help service members and spouses in Hayward, Castro Valley, and San Leandro get accurate support calculations that match reality—not assumptions. Financial mistakes here are difficult to fix later, so we handle it thoroughly the first time.
That depends entirely on how long the marriage lasted and how it overlapped with military service. The 20/20/20 rule allows full benefits if the marriage, service, and overlap each lasted 20 years—but fall short by even a few months, and you may lose everything. Tricare eligibility, commissary access, and post-divorce privileges all hinge on those dates and whether the court order includes the right protection language. At Bagner Law, we walk clients through every threshold and time marker to ensure nothing is lost simply because it wasn’t properly filed. Serving military families in San Leandro, Hayward, and Castro Valley means we get the details right—because mistakes in this area are permanent.
Military pensions are treated as community property under California law, which means the portion earned during the marriage is subject to division. But dividing that pension requires exact DFAS-compliant language in your divorce decree—or your payments may be delayed, denied, or even blocked. We’ve corrected many flawed pension clauses that were written without federal understanding, costing clients months or years of lost income. At Bagner Law, we ensure pension division is both enforceable and strategically sound for our clients in Castro Valley, Hayward, and San Leandro. You don’t just need a lawyer—you need one who knows where state law ends and federal enforcement begins.
Yes, and it should be—but only if the right provisions are built into the custody plan. California allows a service member to delegate visitation temporarily and requires courts to consider deployment realities when assigning parenting time. We help military parents across San Leandro, Hayward, and Castro Valley draft court orders that anticipate deployment schedules and maintain the child’s stability. When service becomes unpredictable, your court orders shouldn’t be. We future-proof your parenting rights so your duty doesn’t cost you long-term access to your child.
Take Back Legal Control Before It’s Too Late
Military divorce comes with rules most civilian divorces never touch—and those rules don’t make room for mistakes. If you’re in San Leandro, Hayward, or Castro Valley and military service is part of your divorce, Bagner Law is ready to protect what matters most. Whether it’s your benefits, pension, custody rights, or future security, we know how to handle military divorces with legal accuracy and battlefield urgency. Call us at (510) 351-5345 for a consultation that turns confusion into control—before the system makes decisions for you.
Bagner Law, PC opened in 2003 as Law Offices of Vonnah M. Bagner with offices in San Francisco and San Leandro, CA. In 2005, the entire practice was moved to San Leandro.
2777 Alvarado Street, Suite E
San Leandro, CA 94577
Monday-Thursday 8:30am - 5:30pm (PST)
Friday 8:30am - 2:00pm
Weekends and After-Hours by Appointment
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