Military Law is primarily a tool for ensuring order
and discipline within the armed forces. As such,
Military Law provides for punishment of military personnel who act in violation of military statutes.
Court-martial proceedings and punitive discharge involve discipline and punishments authorized by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) for minor to serious offenses and chronic offenders.
The summary court-martial is a non-judicial proceeding reserved for relatively minor offenses. The other two types of courts-martial, the special court-martial and the general court-martial, are judicial proceedings that may lead to felony criminal convictions and result in incarceration and/or punitive discharge from the armed forces.
Military justice refers to the Criminal Law component of Military Law. It is a body of law codified in the UCMJ and implemented through the Manual for Courts-Martial.
The military justice system applies to all active-duty military personnel, as well as to military reservists while they are on active duty, and certain civilian Department of Defense employees during wartime.
Pension Rights
Florida is allowed to divide a military pension if the service person resides in Florida, has his/her home in Florida, has his/her home of record in Florida, or consents to Florida dividing the pension. All service personnel who have served 20 years of active duty military service will receive a military pension plan.
The portion of the military pension plan that the spouse who is not in the service receives depending on the length of the service, the rank of the service person, and the length of the marriage. In addition to pension rights, a spouse married to a service person for more than 20 years during the 20 years of marriage the service person who has been in active duty military service has other rights to health care, base access and other rights.
There is also a special provision for persons married more than 10 years to secure the pension part to the non-service person after the death of the service person called survivor benefit rights. Please contact us for more information regarding these important rights.
If you are discharged from active duty military service over your objection, you may have rights to challenge the discharge. As soon as a discharge has begun against you, please contact us to discuss your rights. If the discharge has been granted, you may important appeal rights. There are limited time periods for you to respond. Please contact us immediately.
The military has a separate criminal code of conduct, called the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Violations of any provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice may result in an informal hearing or a full court marshal. You are entitled to legal representation, independent of any legal representation provided through the military. You have important rights against incrimination, and may have a defense to the charges brought against you. Please contact us to discuss these matters.
Military Law is primarily a tool for ensuring order
and discipline within the armed forces. As such,
Military Law provides for punishment of military personnel who act in violation of military statutes.