For members of the military, divorce can be a complicated process. Unfortunately, military life is often difficult, and troops are subject to overseas deployment. Because of the difficulties of military life, many family law judges have been hesitant to give soldiers custody of their children in a divorce.
The Pentagon had opposed the idea of a federal law on the issue in the past, but it recently changed its position regarding to child custody issues for American troops. According to an announcement by Robert Gates, the Pentagon and Congress will begin working with each other to create federal legislation designed to protect the child custody rights of military personnel. They are hoping to create a bill guaranteeing that active duty military personnel involved in disputes over child custody are not at risk of penalization due to military service.
Representative Michael Turner, who has been sponsoring this type of legislation since 2006, was thrilled by the news. He sponsored the Service Members Family Protection Act, which would have prohibited the deployment of military personnel from being used as a factor against them during child custody cases.
It is difficult to determine the number of divorced troops that have lost custody of their children as a result of deployment, since the details of family court proceedings are often not public knowledge.
Some feel that federal legislation in child custody issues will complicate family law in state courts. Congressman Turner, however, believes that federal law is necessary due to the often-nomadic lifestyle of active duty military personnel. The state residency of service men and women can vary depending on deployment and where they live, making it difficult to determine jurisdiction in child custody cases.
A federal law would help protect the custody rights of troops regardless of where they are stationed. Turner believes that American service personnel should not have to “worry about losing their children while they defend us overseas.”
Source: Stars and Stripes, “Pentagon to support bill to protect troops’ child custody rights,” Charlie Reed, 2/17/2011
