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Deployment Cannot Count Against You in a Custody Decision

Under the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act a court may not consider a parent’s past or possible future deployment in itself in deciding the best interest of the child. Notice of deployment is due within seven days, and a pre-deployment motion gets an expedited hearing.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Under the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act a court may not consider a parent’s past or possible future deployment in itself in deciding the best interest of the child. Notice of deployment is due within seven days, and a pre-deployment motion gets an expedited hearing.

What it's worth: Deployment excluded as a factor, plus notice and expedited hearing rights

  • Section 63-15-512 provides that a court may not consider a parent’s past deployment or possible future deployment in itself in determining the best interest of the child.
  • Section 63-15-508 requires a deploying parent to notify the other parent in a record of a pending deployment not later than seven days after receiving notice of it.
  • Section 63-15-526 provides that where a motion to grant custodial responsibility is filed before the deployment occurs, the court shall conduct an expedited hearing.
  • Section 63-15-520 allows a deploying parent to delegate all or part of custodial responsibility to an adult non-parent for the period of deployment by power of attorney, where no other parent has custodial responsibility or contact is prohibited by court order.

Who is entitled to it

  • The Act is written around the deploying parent.
  • Your home is in South Carolina.

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: Notice to the other parent within seven days of receiving notice of deployment
  1. 1Put the notice in a record and send it within seven days. Seven days is short, and it starts when you are notified of the deployment, not when it begins.
  2. 2Try for a temporary agreement first. The Act is built to let parents settle custodial responsibility for the deployment between themselves.
  3. 3File before you go if agreement fails. The expedited hearing right attaches to a motion filed before the deployment occurs.
  4. 4Say the words from §63-15-512 out loud in court if the other side leans on your service: past or future deployment may not in itself be considered in the best-interest decision.
  5. 5Consider the power of attorney route under §63-15-520 where there is no other parent with custodial responsibility, or where their contact is barred by court order.
  6. 6A temporary order does not move your residence for jurisdiction purposes — the Act keeps a deploying parent resident here during the deployment.
Form
Notice in a record to the other parent, then a motion if agreement fails
File with
The family court with jurisdiction over the custody matter
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
Worth knowingThe phrase that does the work is "in itself". Deployment is not a strike against a parent. What a deployment causes — an absence, a change of school, a new caregiver — can still be weighed.
Known gapHow the Act treats a deployment shorter than the definition, and what happens to a temporary order if the deployment is extended, were not established this session.

Sources

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