I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4469 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide for protection 

of child custody arrangements for parents who are members of the 

Armed Forces deployed in support of a contingency operation. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 19, 2010 

Mr. TURNER 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 protection of child custody arrangements for parents 

who are members of the Armed Forces deployed in support of a contingency operation. 

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

3 SECTION 1. PROTECTION OF CHILD CUSTODY ARRANGE4 MENTS FOR PARENTS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF 

5 THE ARMED FORCES DEPLOYED IN SUPPORT 

6 OF A CONTINGENCY OPERATION. 

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

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


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

2 section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 208. CHILD CUSTODY PROTECTION. 

4 ‘‘(a) RESTRICTION ON CHANGE OF CUSTODY.—If a 

5 motion for change of custody of a child of a servicemember 

6 is filed while the servicemember is deployed in support of 

7 a contingency operation, no court may enter an order 

8 modifying or amending any previous judgment or order, 

9 or issue a new order, that changes the custody arrange10 ment for that child that existed as of the date of the de11 ployment of the servicemember, except that a court may 

12 enter a temporary custody order if the court finds that 

13 it is in the best interest of the child. 

14 ‘‘(b) COMPLETION OF DEPLOYMENT.—In any pre15 ceding covered under subsection (a), a court shall require 

16 that, upon the return of the servicemember from deploy17 ment in support of a contingency operation, the custody 

18 order that was in effect immediately preceding the date 

19 of the deployment of the servicemember is reinstated, un20 less the court finds that such a reinstatement is not in 

21 the best interest of the child, except that any such finding 

22 shall be subject to subsection (c). 

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

25 for the change of custody of the child of a servicemember 


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1 is filed, no court may consider the absence of the service2 member by reason of deployment, or possibility of deploy3 ment, in determining the best interest of the child. 

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

5 this section shall create a Federal right of action. 

6 ‘‘(e) PREEMPTION.—In any case where State or Fed7 eral law applicable to a child custody proceeding under 

8 State or Federal law provides a higher standard of protec9 tion to the rights of the parent who is a servicemember 

10 than the rights provided under this section, the State or 

11 Federal court shall apply the State or Federal standard. 

12 ‘‘(f) CONTINGENCY OPERATION DEFINED.—In this 

13 section, the term ‘contingency operation’ has the meaning 

14 given that term in section 101(a)(13) of title 10, United 

15 States Code, except that the term may include such other 

16 deployments as the Secretary may prescribe.’’. 

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

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

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

‘‘208. Child custody protection.’’. 

Æ 


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