Georgia’s custody statute has special rules that protect a parent who deploys.
No Permanent Change During Deployment
Whenever a military parent is deployed, OCGA 19-9-3(i)(1) bars “a final order modifying parental rights and responsibilities under an existing parenting plan earlier than 90 days after the deployment ends, unless such modification is agreed to by the deployed parent.” After the parent returns, the court presumes the predeployment plan still serves the child, and whoever seeks a permanent change must prove otherwise. OCGA 19-9-3(i)(12).
Temporary Orders
When a parent with custody or parenting time gets formal notice of a deployment that will materially affect it, the court must, on either parent’s petition, enter a temporary order keeping the child in contact, with a schedule for returning to the old plan. OCGA 19-9-3(i)(2), (4). At the deploying parent’s request, the court may also let extended family or someone close to the child use that parent’s time during the deployment, if that serves the child’s best interest. OCGA 19-9-3(i)(5). If the other parent moves away while that order is in effect, the Georgia court keeps jurisdiction over custody. OCGA 19-9-3(i)(9).
Planning Ahead
A military parent’s parenting plan ordinarily must also address deployment, as our post on what a parenting plan must include notes. OCGA 19-9-1(b)(2)(G). In Carr-MacArthur v. Carr, 296 Ga. 30 (2014), a request to change custody, an Air Force father was named primary physical custodian, and the mother was given temporary custody whenever he deployed for more than 30 days. When she sought a new trial, citing in part his six-month deployment, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the denial, because the chance of a long deployment “was clearly contemplated in the court’s final order and incorporated parenting plan.”
Pausing the whole case is a matter of federal law, covered in our posts on the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and support in our post on child support in a Georgia military divorce.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!