Service members who are deployed in other states, or have other issues that affect their child custody arrangements, have little recourse under the law. There are no uniform, standardized child custody laws that can be applied to service members, who may be subjected to frequent deployments. A legal panel that studied the issue of service members and child custody arrangements recently suggested that state laws be standardized in order to simplify child custody rules for veterans.
The panel, the Uniform Law commission consists of 350 lawyers, appointed by all the states. Recently, the panel approved a piece of legislation called the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, which consists of uniform codes that can be used by state legislatures to standardize child safety rules.
In some cases, a person may be deployed to another state, and in such cases, he may prefer that his visitation rights be handed over to the grandparents, or some other relatives. Sensitive issues, like the rights of a veteran’s family in such situations, need to be handled with great tact. Unfortunately, in the absence of standardized custody laws, veterans feel confused with the patchwork of laws that run across states.
In other cases, Seattle child custody lawyers may face questions of jurisdiction when service members are posted in another state. Then, there are also custody questions that arise when a service member returns from combat. In such cases, it is important to determine whether temporary child custody arrangements can be made permanent for the service member.
These are important questions that impact the relationship of the service member with his or her child. These laws have been left as they are for too long, increasing stress and anxiety levels for service members, and it’s time that veterans who sacrificed so much for our country, have legal recourse when they have family law-related issues.
