The federal government is pushing a new bill that would have a significant affect on Minnesota child custody laws.
As reported by Military.com, the House of Representatives Arms Services Committee is lobbying the Pentagon for support on military servicemembers’ child custody rights.
The committee is seeking support from Leon Penetta on the proposed “Servicemember Family Protection Act.” The committee states that the proposed bill would not give servicemembers an “advantage” in a child custody dispute, it would simply take away any “disadvantages” the service member may have. As a practicing family law lawyer, I wonder how the federal government proposes to do that.
Typically, family law matters such as divorce or child custody are handled by individual states.
Therefore, in Minnesota, family law matters are governed by Minnesota law – not federal law. There are federal laws which have an effect on any state family law cases; however, the majority of laws associated with family law or divorces are enforced by the states.
Minnesota servicemembers are clearly important people who are governed by Minnesota and federal laws. I am no military law expert and I can tell you that the conflicts and/or differences between Minnesota and federal law scare me a bit. One example of the a federal law which has an effect on Minnesota law is the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act | Minnesota Child Custody Laws
Akin to the proposed The Servicemember Family Protection Act, is the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is a federal law that gives troops special legal privileges in civil court actions while they are deployed.
According to the Military.com article, in 2008 Congress extended the Relief Act to include child custody cases, preventing family courts from permanently changing custody orders while a servicemember is deployed. However, the House of Representatives Arms Services Committee feels that the Relief Act does not go far enough.
According to the article:
. . . the potential for a military parent to lose custody because of their job should be enough to justify a federal law, said Eva Slusher, who lost custody of her daughter in 2004 when she deployed. It took her two years and $25,000 to rectify the situation after a judge ruled that Slusher’s military service made her husband a more suitable parent.
She agrees with Turner that deploying troops need to keep their exes in the loop when it comes to temporary custody arrangements for deployments, even though it didn’t help her case.
“You’re not looking out for the child’s best interest if you’re not talking to the biological parent,” Slusher said.
I agree with the sentiment of the House Armed Services Committee, but I wonder how a state court judge is supposed to rule when one parent is in Minnesota (or any other state) and the other parent has been deployed to a different country.
Are the judges supposed to put the child in a state of hibernation? Somebody has to give the children breakfast, take them to school, etc. Somebody has to raise the child and it isn’t going to be a parent who is fighting in a different country.
I have sympathy for military servicemembers. They are certainly put in a tough bind. However, in my experience, trying to convince a Minnesota judge that a person who is not present in the country should get physical custody of a child would be very difficult.
I’ll keep following this proposed bill and report on any changes.
See Law Would Strengthen Troops’ Child Custody Rights, Military.com, April 10, 2012.
-This post was written by Joseph M. Flanders, an lawyer in Apple Valley, MN.
