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A Custody Order Changed for Deployment Must Say It Is Temporary — On Its Face

Where duty, deployment or mobilisation orders move a service member a substantial distance, an existing custody or visitation order may only be modified TEMPORARILY. The order must state that military service is the basis and that it is temporary, and the court must consider whether it should terminate automatically. When the question returns after homecoming, the deployment and the disruption it caused are neutral factors and cannot alone justify a permanent change.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Temporary-only modification of custody or visitation on military orders, an order that must state its military basis on its face, delegated visitation to a close family member, an expedited hearing on request, and testimony by telephone, video or internet

The section applies where a service member with custody or visitation receives temporary duty, deployment or mobilisation orders requiring a move a substantial distance from their residence, or otherwise having a temporary but material effect on their ability to exercise custody or visitation.
Any order in place at the time the orders are received may only be temporarily modified, and only so as to provide for the child's best interests.
An order modifying an existing custody or visitation order because of the service must specify that the member's military service is the basis, and must state that it is entered solely as a temporary order.
In issuing such an order, the court must consider whether it should automatically terminate.
On a later motion after the return, the temporary duty, mobilisation or deployment and the resulting temporary disruption to the child's schedule are neutral factors in deciding whether there has been a material change of circumstances, and cannot alone constitute one warranting a permanent modification.
On the member's motion, the court may order that visitation, or part of it, be exercised during the absence by a family member with a close and substantial relationship to the child, where that is in the child's best interest.
On the member's motion, the court must for good cause shown expedite a pending custody or visitation hearing where military duties have a material effect on the ability to appear in person.
On the member's motion, with reasonable advance notice and proof, the court may allow testimony and evidence by electronic means, defined to include telephone, video teleconference and the internet.
Deployment is defined as federal service under title 10 of the United States Code on orders requiring the member to be unaccompanied by family members, and includes periods listed as missing in action or prisoner of war; it does not apply to a member absent without leave or considered a deserter.
Mobilisation is defined as the recall of a retired member or the call-up of a Guard or reserve component member to extended active duty under the named title 10 sections, and does not include annual or weekend training.
Temporary duty means a transfer to a different location for more than 45 days but less than 180 days for training, a military mission or medical treatment.
A separate section of the same chapter provides that a member's temporary duty, deployment or mobilisation does not alter a court's continuing jurisdiction over the custody order.
Nothing in the section alters the court's duty to consider the best interest of the child.

Who is entitled to it

You are in this state.

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.

From what you have told us so far, you appear to qualify.

How to claim it

1Read any proposed order before it is entered and check it says two things: that your military service is the basis, and that it is temporary. The statute requires both on the face of the order. An order missing them is the one that quietly becomes permanent.
2Ask the court to make the temporary order terminate automatically. The statute directs the court to CONSIDER that, which means it is a live question you are entitled to raise rather than a favour.
3When the case comes back after your return, quote the neutral-factor language. Your deployment and the disruption it caused to the child's schedule cannot, alone, be a material change of circumstances justifying a permanent modification.
4Name the family member you want to exercise visitation while you are gone, and say why the relationship is close and substantial. The court can delegate your visitation to them, but only on your motion.
5Move for the expedited hearing rather than hoping for one. The statute makes it mandatory for good cause shown, but it starts with your motion.
6Ask for testimony by electronic means with reasonable advance notice and proof that your duties materially affect your ability to appear. Telephone, video teleconference and the internet are all named in the statute.
7Check your orders against the definitions before relying on the section. Temporary duty here means more than 45 days and less than 180; deployment means unaccompanied federal service under title 10. An accompanied assignment is outside it.

Form: A motion in the existing custody or visitation proceeding
File with: The district court that holds the custody order
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

Worth knowingThe requirement that the order state its own military basis and its own temporariness is the strongest part of this section. It exists because temporary orders drift into permanence, and it gives you something concrete to point at years later.

CorrectionNeutral does not mean invisible. The statute makes deployment and its disruption neutral factors that cannot ALONE be a material change; it does not stop a court considering everything else that has changed since.

Known gapThe section is procedural and does not say how a court will exercise the discretion it grants. Take the section itself to a legal assistance officer or a family lawyer before a contested hearing.

Sources

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