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‘‘(1) EXISTING MORTGAGE.—The term ‘existing 
mortgage’ means a mortgage that is secured by a 1- 
to 4-family residence, including a condominium or a 
share in a cooperative ownership housing associa-
tion, that was the principal residence of a service-
member for a period that— 
‘‘(A) had a duration of 13 consecutive 
months or longer; and 
‘‘(B) ended upon the relocation of the serv-
icemember caused by the servicemember receiv-
ing military orders for a permanent change of 
station or to deploy with a military unit, or as 
an individual in support of a military operation, 
for a period of not less than 90 days that did 
not allow the servicemember to continue to oc-
cupy such residence as a principal residence. 
‘‘(2) COVERED REFINANCING MORTGAGE.—The 
term ‘covered refinancing mortgage’ means any 
mortgage— 
‘‘(A) that is made for the purpose of pay-
ing or prepaying, and extinguishing, the out-
standing obligations under an existing mortgage 
or mortgages; and 
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‘‘(B) that is secured by the same residence 
that secured such existing mortgage or mort-
gages.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
for such Act is amended by inserting after the item relat-
ing to section 303A the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 303B. Treatment of relocation for active duty for purposes of mortgage 
refinancing.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—Section 303B of the 
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, as added by subsection 
(a), and the amendments made by this section, shall take 
effect on October 1, 2014. 
SEC. 13. REQUIREMENTS FOR LENDING INSTITUTIONS 
THAT ARE CREDITORS FOR OBLIGATIONS 
AND 
LIABILITIES 
COVERED 
BY 
THE 
SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL RELIEF ACT. 
Section 207 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 
(50 U.S.C. App. 527) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 
subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing new subsection (d): 
‘‘(d) LENDING INSTITUTION REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) COMPLIANCE OFFICERS.—Each lending in-
stitution subject to the requirements of this section 
shall designate an employee of the institution as a 
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compliance officer who is responsible for ensuring 
the institution’s compliance with this section and for 
distributing information to servicemembers whose 
obligations and liabilities are covered by this section. 
‘‘(2) TOLL-FREE TELEPHONE NUMBER.—Dur-
ing any fiscal year, a lending institution subject to 
the requirements of this section that had annual as-
sets for the preceding fiscal year of $10,000,000,000 
or more shall maintain a toll-free telephone number 
and shall make such telephone number available on 
the primary Internet website of the institution.’’. 
SEC. 14. 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 custo-
dial responsibility for a child based solely on a deployment 
or anticipated deployment of a parent who is a service-
member, then the court shall require that, upon the return 
of the servicemember from deployment, the custody order 
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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 IN-
TEREST.—If a motion or a petition is filed seeking a per-
manent order to modify the custody of the child of a serv-
icemember, no court may consider the absence of the serv-
icemember by reason of deployment, or the possibility of 
deployment, as the sole factor in determining the best in-
terest of the child. 
‘‘(c) NO FEDERAL JURISDICTION OR RIGHT OF AC-
TION 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 ap-
plicable to a child custody proceeding involving a tem-
porary 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 stand-
ard. 
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‘‘(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 tem-
porary or permanent official orders— 
‘‘(1) that are designated as unaccompanied; 
‘‘(2) for which dependent travel is not author-
ized; or 
‘‘(3) that otherwise do not permit the move-
ment 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.’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives October 28, 
2013. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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