(TRENTON) – Assemblymen Jack Conners and Herb Conaway, M.D. are sponsoring legislation to ensure parents involved in custody cases are not disadvantaged by being on active military duty.
The bill (A-3096) would bar courts from changing a child custody agreement if the motion is filed during a time a parent is on active military duty.
“This is all about fairness,” said Conners (D-Burlington/Camden), chairman of the Assembly Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee that recently advanced the bill. “This is a problem that has especially impacted some women veterans, and it’s not right. Custody cases are complex and emotional enough without tossing active military duty into the middle of them. The least we can do is provide this breather and ensure veterans are not penalized.”
“Custody cases should revolve around what’s truly best for the child, and that should include fairness for a parent on active military duty,” said Conaway (D-Burlington/Camden). “All this does is ensure a parent isn’t penalized by serving in the military. Our veterans make enough sacrifices. The opportunity to be involved with their children should not be one of them.”
The bill provides that no court can enter an order modifying the terms of custody or parenting time contained in an existing order, or establishing child custody terms, until 90 days after a deployment ends.
Further, mobilization or deployment or the potential for deployment may not be the sole factor serving as a basis for an application for a change in circumstance to support a permanent modification of the custody or parenting time established in an existing order.
