AB 66

Current law contains some specific provisions that apply to actions relating to

custody or physical placement of a child when a party in the action is a service

member. For these purposes, "service member" is defined as a member of the

national guard or of a reserve unit of the U.S. armed forces. Under current law, in

an action affecting the family, such as a divorce, the court may not consider as a factor

in determining legal custody of a child, or in determining whether to modify an

existing order of legal custody, whether a service member party has been or may be

called away to active duty in the U.S. armed forces. Also under current law, if a court

modifies an order of physical placement on the basis that a service member party has

been or will be called to active duty in the U.S. armed forces, the modification order

must require that the allocation of periods of physical placement or physical

placement schedule that was in effect before the modification be reinstated when the

service member is discharged from active duty.

This bill prohibits a court from modifying a legal custody order if a party is a

service member while the service member is on active duty in the U.S. armed forces.

The bill permits a service member who has been awarded periods of physical

placement with a child and who has been called to active duty in the U.S. armed

forces to petition the court to modify the physical placement order to allow a third

party designated by the service member to exercise the service member's periods of

physical placement with the child, on behalf of the service member, while the service

member is on active duty. The court may modify the order in the proposed manner

if it is appropriate and in the best interest of the child. Finally, the bill requires a

court to expedite hearings in actions affecting the family at the request of a service

member party, and to permit a service member party who is on active duty in the U.S.

armed forces to testify at hearings in an action affecting the family by telephone or

other electronic means.