Hello Miranda,

I am sorry to hear that you are facing this problem about.

After review of your post it seems that your primary concern is obtain the BAH that your husband had promissed to pay you in a written document.

Unfortunately the CO statement to you is correct. The Commanding Officer can only suggest that your husband pay you the agreed upon written amount unless there is a court order. The military can only enforce actual civilian court orders of support, not written agreements.

What you may wish to consider is filing a request for temporary support as part of you divorce if you haven't already done so and once you have the temporary court order the military will honor the request for the support. If the written agreement you mentioned is part of a property settlement agreement, then you would use that written agreement to have the civilian court enforce the agreement.

In determining the amount, duration, and manner of payment of Alimony, the court shall consider all relevant factors, including:

• The marital misconduct of either of the spouses. Nothing herein shall prevent a court from considering incidents of post date-of-separation marital misconduct as corroborating evidence supporting other evidence that marital misconduct occurred during the Marriage and prior to date of separation;
• The relative earnings and earning capacities of the spouses;
• The ages and the physical, mental, and emotional conditions of the spouses;
• The amount and sources of earned and unearned income of both spouses, including, but not limited to, earnings, dividends, and benefits such as medical, Retirement, insurance, social security, or others;
• The duration of the marriage;
• The contribution by one spouse to the education, training, or increased earning power of the other spouse;
• The extent to which the earning power, expenses, or financial obligations of a spouse will be affected by reason of serving as the custodian of a minor child;
• The standard of living of the spouses established during the marriage;
• The relative education of the spouses and the time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the spouse seeking alimony to find employment to meet his or her reasonable economic needs;
• The relative assets and liabilities of the spouses and the relative debt service requirements of the spouses, including legal obligations of support;
• The property brought to the marriage by either spouse;
• The contribution of a spouse as homemaker;
• The relative needs of the spouses;
• Tax ramifications of the alimony award;
• Any other factor relating to the economic circumstances of the parties that the court finds to be just and proper.
• The fact that income received by either party was previously considered by the court in determining the value of a marital or divisible asset in an equitable distribution of the parties' marital or divisible property.

[Based on North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 50, Section 50-16.3A]

If I have answered your question then Positive feedback is always appreciated. If you have additional questions I am here to provide a response.

Hang in there and things will get better,

Dan