Soldier's family facing eviction

SARATOGA SPRINGS — When Linda Dexter put her military husband on a plane back to Iraq last week, she was looking forward to his return home in June.

Now the Dexters wonder where their home will be.

On the day before Thanksgiving, Linda Dexter answered a knock on her door. A Utah County constable was waiting on the porch to serve an eviction notice. The family of six now must vacate the rented home they once hoped to make a permanent residence.

At the heart of the family's dilemma is a decision by the landlord to increase the monthly rent from $1,050 to $1,500.

April Summers, who owns the home with her husband, Justin, said Dexter was told in June that they needed her to plan on leaving. Summers said Dexter was then informed in writing in September of the impending increase in rent — effective on Nov. 1 — if the family wanted to stay in the home.

Summers declined a request by the Deseret Morning News to explain why she and her husband are asking the Dexters to vacate at this time.

Dexter said she turned to the military Judge Advocate's Office for advice and was assured the family was protected under the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940, which specifies that soldiers and their families qualify for any or all of the following:

• Reduced interest rate on mortgage payments.

• Reduced interest rate on credit card debt.

• Protection from eviction if the rent is $1,200 or less.

• Delay of all civil court actions, such as bankruptcy, foreclosure or divorce proceedings.

That protection is now in question because of a Nov. 14 decision by 4th District Judge Derek Pullan. Pullan declined to recognize the act and signed a court order to allow the eviction.

Dexter has since signed an agreement with the landlord that delays an immediate eviction but requires the family to vacate the home by Dec. 15.

"Yes, we will be homeless 10 days before Christmas," Dexter said as she cuddled 4 1/2-month-old Conner.

Dexter found out she was pregnant the day before her husband, Staff Sgt. Kevin Dexter, was shipped out earlier this year to Iraq with the 1457th Engineers Battalion 1st Armored Division of the Utah National Guard. What was expected to be a short-term deployment has since been extended to June 2004.

Conner was born just six months after Kevin Dexter left, a welcome child after 12 miscarriages and three other premature births but an additional stress for a mother left behind with a number of medical concerns herself, including a degenerative disease and serious back problems.

"We had moved to Saratoga Springs before Kevin was called up," Dexter said. "We were not even unboxed when we got the news. I had just found out I was pregnant."