I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4201 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide for the protection 

of child custody arrangements for parents who are members of the 

Armed Forces. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2012 

Mr. TURNER of Ohio (for himself and Mr. ANDREWS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide 

for the protection of child custody arrangements for parents who are members of the Armed Forces. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Servicemember Family 

5 Protection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF CHILD CUSTODY ARRANGEMENTS 

2 FOR PARENTS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE 

3 ARMED FORCES. 

4 (a) CHILD CUSTODY PROTECTION.—Title II of the 

5 Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 521 et 

6 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

7 section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 208. CHILD CUSTODY PROTECTION. 

9 ‘‘(a) RESTRICTION ON TEMPORARY CUSTODY

10 ORDER.—If a court renders a temporary order for custo11 dial responsibility for a child based solely on a deployment 

12 or anticipated deployment of a parent who is a service13 member, then the court shall require that upon the return 

14 of the servicemember from deployment, the custody order 

15 that was in effect immediately preceding the temporary 

16 order shall be reinstated, unless the court finds that such 

17 a reinstatement is not in the best interest of the child, 

18 except that any such finding shall be subject to subsection 

19 (b). 

20 ‘‘(b) EXCLUSION OF MILITARY SERVICE FROM DE21 TERMINATION OF CHILD’S BEST INTEREST.—If a motion 

22 or a petition is filed seeking a permanent order to modify 

23 the custody of the child of a servicemember, no court may 

24 consider the absence of the servicemember by reason of 

25 deployment, or the possibility of deployment, in deter26 mining the best interest of the child. 


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1 ‘‘(c) NO FEDERAL RIGHT OF ACTION.—Nothing in 

2 this section shall create a Federal right of action. 

3 ‘‘(d) PREEMPTION.—In any case where State law ap4 plicable to a child custody proceeding involving a tem5 porary order as contemplated in this section provides a 

6 higher standard of protection to the rights of the parent 

7 who is a deploying servicemember than the rights provided 

8 under this section with respect to such temporary order, 

9 the appropriate court shall apply the higher State stand10 ard. 

11 ‘‘(e) DEPLOYMENT DEFINED.—In this section, the 

12 term ‘deployment’ means the movement or mobilization of 

13 a servicemember for a period of longer than 60 days and 

14 not longer than 18 months pursuant to temporary or per15 manent official orders— 

16 ‘‘(1) that are designated as unaccompanied; 

17 ‘‘(2) for which dependent travel is not author18 ized; or 

19 ‘‘(3) that otherwise do not permit the move20 ment of family members to that location.’’. 

21 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

22 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the 

23 end of the items relating to title II the following new item: 

‘‘208. Child custody protection.’’. 

Æ 


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