About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

7 Lamplighter 1 (1996)

handle is hein.journals/lmplgt7 and id is 1 raw text is: LAMP
V          7 S  S  1996

Family Support Requirements in the Army
Colonel Demmon F. Canner
Each military service has a slightly different program to deal
with family support issues. The Army's family support program
is established under Army Regulation 608-99, Family Support,
Child Custody, and Paternity, (1 November 1994).
Requirements Under the Regulation
The regulation requires a soldier to comply with an existing
court order. If a court has not entered an order on the matter,
the regulation requires a soldier to comply with a written fi-
nancial support agreement. In the absence of a court order or a
support agreement, the regulation requires a soldier to comply
with the financial support requirements provided in the regula-
tion. In most cases, this means that a soldier must pay his or
her family members an amount equal to the soldier's basic al-
lowance for quarters at the with dependents rate (BAQ-WITH).
As of January 1996, this amount ranges from $335.10 per month
for a private E-1 to $941.10 per month for any officer. The
regulatory requirement for support equal to BAQ-WITH is the
subject of most of the questions on the program and is the
focus of this article.
Support
The Army's regulation on family support is not a substitute
for court action. It is not an entitlement program; it is an in-
terim measure only, and it is based on the public policy interest
in government employees supporting their families. In most
cases, if ABC Corporation receives a letter indicating that one
of its employees is not supporting his or her family, the
corporation's response would be limited to sympathy. Soldiers,
however, are public servants who often are required by orders
to move to foreign countries. Even so, the amount of required
support is limited.
The Army focuses on the allowance that it pays to a soldier
for housing. Specifically, it focuses on the extra allowance that
it pays to soldiers with family members. Single soldiers are
provided government quarters or basic allowance for quarters
(BAQ) off post. Married soldiers are provided larger govern-
ment quarters or more money (BAQ-WITH) specifically
because of the presence of a spouse and/or children. If the Army
is paying more for family members, it expects a soldier to spend
that amount, at a minimum, on the same family members. If
the soldier is not supporting the family, however, the Army
(continued on page 8)

IN THIS                      IU
The LAMPlighter Says .......................................................                     2
Legal Readiness Checkup                    Pilot Project ............................. 3
The Tariff       Sheriff     ................................................................ 5
Chair's Column            ................................................................       7

Illustration bv Jim Starr

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most