After you and your ex-partner separate, you may negotiate a child custody arrangement that allows you to maintain a healthy relationship with your child or children. However, when the military deploys you to another state or country, your deployment can throw a wrench into your ability to exercise custody. What options do you have for protecting your child custody rights as a parent when you go on deployment?
Understanding Custody Challenges During Deployment
Going on deployment can complicate your custody arrangement or visitation schedules, especially if you get deployed to another state where you do not have private accommodations or if the military sends you overseas. You may not have the ability to spend in-person time with your children while on deployment. Furthermore, not having parenting time or the ability to speak to your children regularly can disrupt the continuity of your relationship with them. You may worry about missing important events in your child’s development or damaging your relationship by not having a consistent presence in their life. Fortunately, courts understand the challenges that military servicemembers face in maintaining relationships with their children and can work with families to balance a servicemember’s obligations with children’s best interests.
Virtual Parenting Options for Deployed Parents
One common option employed for parents deployed on military duty (especially overseas) involves virtual parenting time. “Virtual” parenting time can include video calls, emails, text messages/messaging apps, recorded voice or video messages, or reading stories to young children over video at bedtime. Depending on the child’s age and maturity, families and courts may arrange for more liberal communication between a child and a deployed parent, allowing the child or parent to text or call freely. Younger children may benefit from a more structured schedule, such as having short video or phone calls at bedtime and longer scheduled calls after school or on weekends. Virtual parenting options, including those that incorporate video calls, can help deployed parents maintain emotional connection with their children and facilitate co-parenting communication.
Court Adjustments to Custody Arrangements
When a military parent’s deployment enables them to have some in-person parenting time (such as getting assigned to another military installation in the U.S.), parents and the court may make temporary adjustments to the family’s custody arrangements during the military parent’s deployment. For example, changes to custody arrangements may include granting a military parent periods of custody during a child’s school breaks when they can travel to visit their parent, if feasible given the military parent’s living arrangements and duty obligations while on deployment.
Various federal and state laws protect military parents from unanticipated changes to custody arrangements while on deployment. For example, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act allows servicemembers who cannot participate in court hearings on child custody matters due to their service to request a delay of the proceedings for up to 90 days; courts have discretion to grant an additional 90-day delay. Various states also have laws that protect military parents in child custody matters while on deployment.
Planning Ahead: Legal Steps Before Deployment
Military parents can take steps before deployment to protect their custody rights and their relationship with their children, including:
- Proactively updating custody orders and parenting plans with co-parents and the court before deployment
- Filing temporary modification requests as necessary to accommodate duty obligations while on deployment
- Fostering a cooperative co-parenting relationship to enable flexibility in arrangements
- Working with an experienced military family law attorney
Contact a Military Family Law Attorney Today
As a servicemember, you may face various logistical challenges when exercising your custody rights during deployment. Contact Patriots Law Group today for a confidential consultation with a military family law attorney to learn more about your legal options for maintaining a relationship with your children through custody arrangements while out of state or overseas on military deployment.