Family resources - Marine Corps Times

New law gives spouses more rights during moves

A new law giving military spouses the same rights enjoyed by service members to pick their state of legal residence was signed by President Barack Obama on Nov. 11.

In a statement, Obama said Military Spouses Residency Relief Act “is an important means of maintaining the morale and readiness of our armed forces and significantly enhances the ability of our military to effectively recruit and retain these highly valued service personnel.”

The new law affects issues ranging from driver’s licenses and vehicle registration to voting rights, property ownership and taxation.

What the new law does

Voting rights: Military spouses will not lose the right to vote or register to vote in a state as a result of a military move. They could decide to register to vote at their new locations or keep their voting registrations in the old states, even if they don’t plan to return, as long as they keep the same residence for voting purposes as their military sponsor, said Joy Dunlap, family issues expert for the Military Officers Association of America.

Automobiles: A spouse will not have to change a driver’s license or auto registration when moving to another state. Some military couples try to get around the auto registration issue today by keeping only the service member’s name on the registration; that will no longer be necessary.

Taxes: A spouse will neither lose nor acquire a residence for tax purposes by entering or leaving a tax jurisdiction while accompanying a service member who is moving as a result of military orders, as long as the residence is the same for husband and wife. This applies to income taxes and personal property taxes. In some cases, this means couples no longer will need to hire accountants specifically to work out paying income taxes or property taxes in multiple states.

Property rights: Residency requirements related to land rights, such as mining claims or homesteading, will be suspended for spouses just as they are suspended under the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act for military members. As such, a spouse will not have to assert land rights over public land until 180 days after the member is released from military service. Dunlap said the change also makes it easier for spouses to retain property in their own names, which has wide effects, including executing wills and credit issues.

How this became law

Two military spouses, Rebecca Poynter and Joanna Williamson, are credited with being the people who got Congress to address spouse residence issues, according to Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, the chief House sponsor of the legislation. “It’s their baby, and they should be recognized,” Carter said.

Poynter and Williamson, both entrepreneurs, complained to Congress in June 2008 that they had difficulty maintaining their businesses while following their husbands from base to base because of residency laws.

The bill ends up doing far more, to include mundane issues such as not having to change driver’s licenses and auto registrations after every move, to more complicated issues such as property ownership.

Poynter, an Army spouse and public relations specialist now living in Dallas, said she and Williamson, a Navy spouse in California, approached Carter for help because he represented the nation’s largest military community at Fort Hood, Texas.

Later, the two visited every Senate office and helped organize phone calls to each member of the House of Representatives from the more than 8,000 supporters who joined them on the issue.