Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Military Family Protection from Debt Act”.
Military Family Protection from Debt Act
A BILL
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to expand certain protections to dependents of members of the Armed Forces.
Sec. 2 Maximum rate of interest on debts incurred before military service applicable to military dependents
Section 207 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 3937) is amended—
in subsection (a)—
in paragraph (1), by striking “or the servicemember and the servicemember’s spouse jointly” and inserting “a dependent of the servicemember, or such a dependent and the servicemember jointly”; and
in paragraph (3), by inserting “or a dependent of the servicemember” after “due from a servicemember”;
in subsection (b)(1)—
in the paragraph heading, by inserting “and dependency” after “military service”;
in subparagraph (A)—
by striking “of the servicemember”;
by striking clause (i) and inserting the following:
“(i) military orders indicating the current, future, or past military duty status of the servicemember; or”
in clause (ii), by inserting “or a certificate from the Defense Manpower Data Center” before the period at the end;
by redesignating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (C); and
by inserting the following after subparagraph (A):
“(B) Dependents—In addition to providing proof of military service under subparagraph (A), dependents of servicemembers shall provide documentation that indicates the dependency status of the dependent at the time the debt or obligation was incurred and continuing until the servicemember entered military service. Such documentation may include a marriage certificate, birth certificate, or any other appropriate indicator of dependency status.”
in subsection (c), by inserting “, dependent, or both, as the case may be,” after “ability of the servicemember”.