How do military couples handle their finances?
My husband is active-duty military and I’m a civilian. We’ve been married for 4 years, but we’ve lived apart for 3 of those 4 years.
We technically have a joint bank account, but there is nothing in it. My husband has another bank account that was joint with his mother throughout most of our marriage. She only came off that account about 6 months ago.
He has been receiving overseas BAH, which goes directly into his bank account. . He has never added me or our child to his orders. We recently had to evacuate because of the war, but because we weren’t command sponsored, we didn’t receive per diem so we had to stay with relatives as he did not want to pay for us to stay in our safe haven. We have shared Amex cards that I use for expenses, but I have no access to or control over any actual money. I don’t have access to his bank account, savings, or the money he receives from the military. His mom had access to this until recently.
I’m starting to realize how financially vulnerable this leaves me, but I genuinely don’t know what I should be doing or what my rights are as a military spouse.
Has anyone been in a similar situation? What should I be doing to protect myself financially, and are there military resources I should be speaking to?