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For Immediate
Release
10/8/08
Folmer
Bill Protecting Deployed Servicemen’s Child
Custody Rights Heads to Rendell’s Desk
HARRISBURG – The General Assembly has approved
Sen. Mike Folmer's (R-Lebanon) legislation protecting the child custody rights
of deployed military personnel.
"For PA military personnel, fighting for your country will
no longer mean losing custody of your children," Folmer said. "This is a huge
victory for families in Pennsylvania."
Folmer's legislation (SB 1107) provides that if a petition to
change the custody of a child of a military serviceman or servicewoman is filed
with any court while the serviceman or servicewoman is deployed for active duty,
no court may enter an order modifying or amending any previous judgment or
order, or issue a new order changing the custody arrangement for that child that
existed as of the date of the serviceman’s or servicewoman’s deployment.
If a custody order is changed, a court must require that,
upon the return of the serviceman from deployment, the custody order in effect
immediately preceding the date of the deployment be reinstated. The court may
not consider the absence of the eligible serviceman or servicewoman by reason of
the deployment in determining custody. The failure of a serviceman or
servicewoman to appear in court because of deployment could not be sufficient to
justify a modification of a custody or visitation order.
Contact:
Joe Sterns
717-787-5708
(Cell) 717-497-0806
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