Civil Relief
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The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act (SSCRA) of 1940, which provided military personnel greater protections for handling their personal financial and legal obligations has been replaced by the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act of 2004 (SMCRA).

The focus of the SMCRA is to provide protections to service members who have difficulty meeting their personal financial and legal obligations because of their military service.

A significant change in the law is the provision for an automatic 90-day stay or delay of civil proceedings, upon application by the service-member. This applies to all judicial and administrative (non-criminal) hearings. In the past, stays were discretionary with the courts. Also included in the act are the following:

• One of the more significant provisions in the SMCRA that did not exist in the SSCRA is an added protection for service-members who have motor vehicle leases. Any active-duty service member who has received permanent-change-of-station (PCS) orders outside the continental United States or who is being deployed for at least 180 days, may terminate a motor vehicle lease. The law prohibits early termination charges.



• The SMCRA makes it clear that the 6 percent limitation on interest rates for pre-service debts requires a reduction in monthly payments, and that any interest in excess of 6 percent is forgiven, not merely deferred.



• The SMCRA expands the protection against eviction. Servicemembers and their dependents who entered into a residential lease for $2,720.95 per month (adjusted annually for inflation) or less could not be evicted without a court order.



• Prevents servicemembers from a form of double taxation that can occur when they have a spouse who works and is taxed in a state other than the state in which they maintain their permanent legal residence. SCRA will prevent states from using the income earned by a servicemember in determining the spouse’s tax rate when they do not maintain their permanent legal residence in that state.



• The SMCRA also gives the service-member who has received PCS orders or who is being deployed for at least 90 days the right to terminate a housing lease with 30 days' written notice. Prior to the SMCRA, service members could be required to pay for housing they were unable to occupy.

Service members with questions about the SMCRA or the protections that they may be entitled to should contact their unit judge advocate or installation legal assistance officer for further information.