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Deployment and Custody — An Order That Says So, and a Fast Hearing on Return

A custody or visitation order made during a parent’s deployment must reference the deployment, must require the other parent to accommodate leave and facilitate contact, and a petition filed within 30 days of the end of deployment gets an expedited hearing.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: An expedited hearing on return, and a duty on the other parent to keep contact going

There is no money in this section. Its value is procedural — the speed of the hearing and the fact that the order has to acknowledge the deployment on its face.
The section does not decide who gets custody. It shapes how the court handles the deployment, and that is all we claim for it.

Who is entitled to it

You are the deploying parent, or the parent at home.
Your home is in Maryland.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: Within 30 days of the end of deployment, for the expedited hearing

1Check the definition first. "Deployment" here means compliance with official orders to report for combat operations or other active service where the member reports unaccompanied by family, or the assignment is classified as remote. Annual training, inactive duty and drill weekends are expressly outside it.
2Ask the court to reference the deployment in the order. The section requires an order or modification issued during a term of deployment to specifically reference it, and that reference is what marks the order as temporary in character.
3File within 30 days of the end of deployment if you want the fast track. On a petition filed in that window, the court shall set a hearing on an expedited basis.
4If you missed the 30 days, say why. The court may still expedite where extenuating circumstances prevented a timely filing, so late is not automatically ordinary.
5Hold the other parent to their duties while you are away: the order must require them to reasonably accommodate your leave schedule and to facilitate telephone and electronic mail contact with the child.
6Give them your leave schedule. The duty to accommodate it is paired with a duty on the deploying parent to provide it in a timely way, and a court will notice which parent did their half.

File with: The circuit court handling the custody case
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

CorrectionAn expedited hearing is not a restored custody order. The section moves you to the front of the queue and makes the deployment visible on the face of the order; what the court then decides is a separate question governed by the child’s best interest.

Worth knowingDrill weekends, annual training and inactive duty are outside the definition of deployment in this section. A Guard or reserve parent should check which category their orders fall into before relying on it.

Known gapThe text we read contains no provision letting a deploying parent delegate visitation to a grandparent or other family member. Some states have that; on what we could read, this section does not — so ask a Maryland family lawyer rather than assuming a delegation is available.

Sources

authority · statuteMd. Code, Family Law §9-108 — Custody and visitation; deployment of a parent

Why only one source type: The section is self-contained and is applied by courts rather than administered by an agency, so there is no operating page to pair with it. We publish the statute alone rather than dress the record with a secondary explainer.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.