Service Member Gets Stay as Attorney Fails to Understand Military Law
Attorney Rocha's client was deployed while his wife sought spousal support from him. Despite efforts to reasonably settle the matter before the court date and Husband's employment, Wife wanted to proceed with the court date despite Husband being deployed.
Attorney Rocha tried to point out to Wife's attorney that Husband was entitled to a stay of the proceedings under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), but Wife's attorney failed to properly research the law and disputed that Husband was. In court, Attorney Rocha complied with the procedures to get his client the stay under the SCRA, and the court granted the stay over Wife's objection. It should be noted that Wife was provided for as Husband was making a voluntary $2,000 monthly support payment and Wife had sole access to $39,000 in community funds, so there was no urgency to deny Husband his right to attend the hearing after his deployment.
Attorney Stephen Rocha handles at any given time multiple military cases and has for years been able to represent military servicemembers or their spouses help navigate around military divorce law to get results. There few attorneys in San Diego County that have the experience or competence in handling military divorces.