Veterans Legal Services Unit helps reservist navigate her divorce
Julie Barrett called Jacksonville Area Legal Aid for help with her divorce after hearing that it had a program that offered veterans free civil legal services. A former active duty servicemember, she had made the choice to stay home with her two pre-school-aged children and enter the Reserves so that her husband could continue his active-duty military career. “I followed him through several duty stations,” said Barrett, not her real name. “And my doing that for his career put me behind in mine.” Then, the marriage unraveled, and she found herself starting over. “My main priority was the children, ensuring my kids were still maintained. And thinking about the visitation,” said Barrett, adding that it was complicated by her ex-husband’s impending deployment. After what she called a “speedy turnaround,” Jacalyn Crecelius of JALA’s Veterans Legal Services Unit took Barrett’s case, aided by paralegal Aylmar Thompson.