Complete Home & Office Legal Guide/Complete Home and Office Legal Guide (Chestnut) (1993).ISO/tut/solfull.sta

Text File | 1993-08-01 | 19KB | 372 lines

/* Here's the full text of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil
Relief Act; this act gives persons in the military service
protection from certain mortgage foreclosures and lawsuits.
It is also important for anyone consider suing someone in
the military to be aware of its limitations.*/

 501.  Short title

This Act [50 USC Appx.  501 et seq.] may be cited as the
Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940.

ARTICLE I.  GENERAL PROVISIONS

 510.  Purpose; suspension of enforcement of civil liabilities

In order to provide for, strengthen, and expedite the national
defense under the emergent conditions which are threatening the
peace and security of the United States and to enable the United
States the more successfully to fulfill the requirements of the
national defense, provision is hereby made to suspend enforcement
of civil liabilities, in certain cases, of persons in the
military service of the United States in order to enable such
persons to devote their entire energy to the defense needs of the
Nation, and to this end the following provisions are made for the
temporary suspension of legal proceedings and transactions which
may prejudice the civil rights of persons in such service during
the period herein specified over which this Act [50 USCS Appx.
501 et seq.] remains in force.

 511.  Definitions

(1) The term "person in military service", the terms "persons in
military service", and the term "persons in the military service
of the United States", as used in this Act [50 USC Appx.  501
et seq.], shall include the following persons and no others:  All
members of the Army of the United States, the United States Navy,
the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and all officers of the Public
Health Service detailed by proper authority for duty either with
the Army or the Navy.  The term "military service", as used in
this Act [50 USC Appx. 501 et seq.], shall signify Federal
service on active duty with any branch of service heretofore
referred to or mentioned as well as training or education under
the supervision of the United States preliminary to induction
into the military service.  The terms "active service" or "active
duty" shall include the period during which a person in military
service is absent from duty on account of sickness, wounds,
leave, or other lawful cause.

(2) The term "period of military service", as used in this Act
[50 USC Appx.  501 et seq.], shall include the time between the
following dates:  For persons in active service at the date of
the approval of this Act [enacted Oct. 17, 1940] it shall begin
with the date of approval of this Act, for persons entering
active service after the date of this Act, with the date of
entering active service.  It shall terminate with the date of
discharge from active service or death while in active service,
but in no case later than the date when this act [50 USC Appx.
501 et seq.] ceases to be in force.

(3) The term "person", when used in this Act [50 USC Appx.  50
et seq.], with reference to the holder of any right alleged to
exist against a person in military service or against a person
secondarily liable under such right, shall include individuals,
partnerships, corporations, and any other forms of business
association.

(4) The term "court", as used in this Act [50 USC Appx.  501 et
seq.], shall include any court of competent jurisdiction of the
United States or of any State, whether or not a court of record.

 512.  Territorial application; jurisdiction of courts; form of
procedure

(1) The provisions of this Act [50 USC Appx.  501 et seq.]
shall apply to the United States, the several States and
Territories, the District of Columbia, and all territory subject
to the jurisdiction of the United States, and to proceedings
commenced in any court therein, and shall be enforced through the
usual forms of procedure obtaining in such courts or under such
regulations as may be by them prescribed.

(2) When under this Act [50 USC Appx.  501 et seq.] any
application is required to be made to a court in which no
proceeding has already been commenced with respect to the matter,
such application may be made to any court.

 513.  Protection of persons secondarily liable

(1) Whenever pursuant to any of the provisions of this Act [50
USC Appx.  501 et seq.] the enforcement of any obligation or
liability, the prosecution of any suit or proceeding, the entry
or enforcement of any order, writ, judgment, or decree, or the
performance of any other act, may be stayed, postponed, or
suspended, such stay, postponement, or suspension may, in the
discretion of the court, likewise be granted to sureties,
guarantors, endorsers, accommodation makers, and others, whether
primarily or secondarily subject to the obligation or liability,
the performance or enforcement of which is stayed, postponed, or
suspended.

(2) When a judgment or decree is vacated or set aside in whole or
in part, as provided in this Act [50 USC Appx.  501 et seq.],
the same may, in the discretion of the court, likewise to set
aside and vacated as to any surety, guarantor, endorser,
accommodation maker, or other person whether primarily or
secondarily liable upon the contract or liability for the
enforcement of which the judgment or decree was entered.

(3) Whenever, by reason of the military service of a principal
upon a criminal bail bond the sureties upon such bond are
prevented from enforcing the attendance of their principal and
performing their obligation the court shall not enforce the
provisions of such bond during the military service of the
principal thereon and may in accordance with principles of equity
and justice either during or after such service discharge such
sureties and exonerate the bail.

(4) Nothing contained in this Act [50 USC Appx.  501 et. seq.]
shall prevent a waiver in writing of the benefits afforded by
subsections (1) and (2) of this section by any surety, guarantor,
endorser, accommodation maker, or other person whether primarily
or secondarily liable upon the obligation or liability, except
that after the date of enactment of the Soldiers' and Sailors'
Civil Relief Act Amendments of 1942 [enacted Oct. 6, 1942] no
such waiver shall be valid unless it is executed as an instrument
separate from the obligation or liability in respect of which it
applies, and no such waiver shall be valid after the beginning of
the period of military service if executed by an individual who
subsequent to the execution of such waiver becomes a person in
military service, or if executed by a dependent of such
individual, unless executed by such individual or dependent
during the period specified in section 106 [50 USC Appx.  516].

 514.  Extension of benefits to citizens serving with forces of
war allies

Persons who serve with the forces of any nation with which the
United States may be allied in the prosecution of any war in
which the United States engages while this Act [50 USC Appx.
501 et seq.] remains in force and who immediately prior to such
service were citizens of the United States shall, except in those
cases provided for in section 512 [50 USC Appx.  572], be
entitled to the relief and benefits afforded by this Act [50 USC
Appx.  501 et seq.] if such service is similar to military
service as defined in this Act [50 USC Appx.  501 et seq.],
unless they are dishonorably discharged therefrom, or it appears
that they do not intend to resume United States citizenship.

 515.  Notice of benefits to persons in and persons entering
military service

The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy shall make
provision, in such manner as each may deem appropriate for his
respective Department, to insure the giving of notice of the
benefits accorded by this Act [50 USC Appx.  501 et seq.] to
persons in and to persons entering military service.  The
Director of Selective Service shall cooperate with the Secretary
of War and the Secretary of the Navy in car