MSRRA signed into law
Nov 16 2009
On November 11th (Veteran’s Day), President Obama signed into law the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act that will allow military spouses the option of choosing a state of residency alongside their active duty service member. The guidelines and regulations still need to be laid out, but here’s a decent overview of what this new legislation will mean for you.
This law sounds good on paper and in the news releases, but beware it is not all it’s cracked up to be. As a business professional and military spouse, I have left lucrative jobs/ taken pay cuts and have been discriminated against in employment options because my spouse is in the military. I was excited to hear this law was passed, but I have been extremely frustrated with the difficulty in making this law a reality in my situation. My husband joined the military right out of college and declared his state of residency in that state. He has not changed that in 11 years and has had the privilege of voting in that state and maintaining his residency there. I have moved now 4 times and have had to change residency each time. Our most recent PCS was this past August from CO to CA. I was hoping to keep my residency in CO since that is the state that we hope to return to once our military commitment is over. Unfortunately because of the way the law is written, I am unable to claim CO as my state of residency since my husband is a resident of another state. Because he was able to keep his home state residency he was never a resident of CO and therefore cannot claim it now! This law is all about fluff and not about really helping military spouses. Shame on those in congress that passed this law for the press knowing that the reality of this “benefit” would never become a reality for many military spouses!