Should Military Deployment Be Considered in Custody Battles?

By Sheryl Rentz on July 16, 2010

In any Philadelphia child custody case, every pertinent detail needs to be carefully examined in order to determine what course of action should be taken in order to keep the best interest of the child in mind at all times. However, in cases where parents are members of the armed services, the details surrounding custody arrangements can be especially complicated.

Recent legislature passed in the House, and now in the hands of the Senate, seeks to create a nationwide norm in regard to considerations given to parents who are deployed by the military and how such deployment can affect child custody arrangements.

According to armytimes.com, Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, sponsored the bill, which seeks to assist deployed military personnel in their child custody cases. Specifically, the bill hopes to disallow deployment (past, present, and future) from being negatively used against an individual serving in the military. While fifteen states already have legislation in place to prevent deployment from being used against military personnel, those states do not argue that the federal government should not set a precedent for how state courts must examine child custody cases. It should be noted that the proposed legislature only applies to instances of deployment related to contingency operations. The bill has previously been rejected four times in the past.

There are a variety of factors that need to be taken into account during any Pennsylvania child custody case. For individuals in Pennsylvania seeking to gain custody of their children, or hoping to maintain their current child custody arrangement, the best course of action should involve retaining the services of an experienced Philadelphia military child custody attorney. For more information regarding child custody arrangements, please contact the Law Offices of Sheryl R. Rentz today at 610-645-0100 for a free consultation.