IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4201 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 4, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Protection Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF CHILD CUSTODY ARRANGEMENTS 

5 FOR PARENTS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE 

6 ARMED FORCES. 

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

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

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

10 section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 208. CHILD CUSTODY PROTECTION. 

12 ‘‘(a) RESTRICTION ON TEMPORARY CUSTODY

13 ORDER.—If a court renders a temporary order for custo14 dial responsibility for a child based solely on a deployment 

15 or anticipated deployment of a parent who is a service16 member, then the court shall require that upon the return 

17 of the servicemember from deployment, the custody order 

18 that was in effect immediately preceding the temporary 

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

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

21 except that any such finding shall be subject to subsection 

22 (b). 

23 ‘‘(b) EXCLUSION OF MILITARY SERVICE FROM DE24 TERMINATION OF CHILD’S BEST INTEREST.—If a motion 

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

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


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1 consider the absence of the servicemember by reason of 

2 deployment, or the possibility of deployment, in deter3 mining the best interest of the child. 

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

5 this section shall create a Federal right of action. 

6 ‘‘(d) PREEMPTION.—In any case where State law ap7 plicable to a child custody proceeding involving a tem8 porary order as contemplated in this section provides a 

9 higher standard of protection to the rights of the parent 

10 who is a deploying servicemember than the rights provided 

11 under this section with respect to such temporary order, 

12 the appropriate court shall apply the higher State stand13 ard. 

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

15 term ‘deployment’ means the movement or mobilization of 

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

17 not longer than 18 months pursuant to temporary or per18 manent official orders— 

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

20 ‘‘(2) for which dependent travel is not author21 ized; or 

22 ‘‘(3) that otherwise do not permit the move23 ment of family members to that location.’’. 


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

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

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

‘‘208. Child custody protection.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 30, 2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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