When it comes to family law, state laws can vary greatly. For example, some Wisconsin laws governing divorce, child custody and child support differ from Minnesota or Michigan’s laws. This can create confusion and turmoil when a divorce or child custody case crosses state lines.

In effort to provide more uniformity between the states, a group called the Uniform Law Commission was created. Most recently, the commission has been working on a set of uniform codes that states can adopt to standardize custody rights for military parents.

The commission, which is made up of about 350 attorneys from across the nation, met this week to approval to the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, which addresses child custody rights for parents who are deployed.

Currently, a majority of states have enacted laws that protect the custody and visitation rights of military parents, but the rules lack consistency.

“States are all across the board on those issues, so the impetus for the uniform act was to provide states with a well-conceived piece of legislation that takes the best practices from all the states that we have seen and give them some guidance,” a lawyer for the Uniform Law Commission said.

Some of the issues that will be addressed in the uniform codes include: how to determine which court has jurisdiction when a military parent is assigned to a base in another state; visitation rights for step-parents or grandparents when a parent is deployed; and what should happen with a temporary custody when a parent returns from deployment.

Once recommended by the Uniform Law Commission, it will be up to the state legislatures to adopt the inform codes into law.

Years ago, the commission drafted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, which was adopted by 49 states as a standard for determining jurisdiction and child support orders between states.

Source: Newsday, “U.S. panel: Improve child custody rules for military,” July 18, 2012