II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1658 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide protection for 

child custody arrangements for parents who are members of the Armed 

Forces deployed in support of a contingency operation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 19, 2007 

Mr. GREGG introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide 

protection for 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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•S 1658 IS

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 there is clear and con13 vincing evidence that 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. 

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

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

23 who was deployed in support of a contingency operation 

24 is filed after the end of the deployment, no court may conVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:42 Jun 22, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1658.IS S1658

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1 sider the absence of the servicemember by reason of that 

2 deployment in determining the best interest of the child. 

3 ‘‘(d) CONTINGENCY OPERATION DEFINED.—In this 

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

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

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

7 deployments as the Secretary may prescribe.’’. 

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

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

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

‘‘208. Child custody protection.’’. 

Æ 


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