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[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1898 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1898

 To protect the child custody rights of deployed members of the Armed 
                    Forces, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 8, 2013

Mr. Turner (for himself and Mr. Andrews) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To protect the child custody rights of deployed members of the Armed 
                    Forces, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. PROTECTION OF CHILD CUSTODY ARRANGEMENTS FOR PARENTS WHO ARE 
              MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

    (a) Child Custody Protection.--Title II of the Servicemembers Civil 
Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 521 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section:

``SEC. 208. CHILD CUSTODY PROTECTION.

    ``(a) Restriction on Temporary Custody Order.--If a court renders a 
temporary order for custodial responsibility for a child based solely 
on a deployment or anticipated deployment of a parent who is a 
servicemember, then the court shall require that, upon the return of 
the servicemember from deployment, the custody order that was in effect 
immediately preceding the temporary order shall be reinstated, unless 
the court finds that such a reinstatement is not in the best interest 
of the child, except that any such finding shall be subject to 
subsection (b).
    ``(b) Limitation on Consideration of Member's Deployment in 
Determination of Child's Best Interest.--If a motion or a petition is 
filed seeking a permanent order to modify the custody of the child of a 
servicemember, no court may consider the absence of the servicemember 
by reason of deployment, or the possibility of deployment, as the sole 
factor in determining the best interest of the child.
    ``(c) No Federal Jurisdiction or Right of Action or Removal.--
Nothing in this section shall create a Federal right of action or 
otherwise give rise to Federal jurisdiction or create a right of 
removal.
    ``(d) Preemption.--In any case where State law applicable to a 
child custody proceeding involving a temporary order as contemplated in 
this section provides a higher standard of protection to the rights of 
the parent who is a deploying servicemember than the rights provided 
under this section with respect to such temporary order, the 
appropriate court shall apply the higher State standard.
    ``(e) Deployment Defined.--In this section, the term `deployment' 
means the movement or mobilization of a servicemember to a location for 
a period of longer than 60 days and not longer than 540 days pursuant 
to temporary or permanent official orders--
            ``(1) that are designated as unaccompanied;
            ``(2) for which dependent travel is not authorized; or
            ``(3) that otherwise do not permit the movement of family 
        members to that location.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to title 
II the following new item:

``208. Child custody protection.''.
                                 <all>
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