A Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act

Additionally, under current law, parents may together sign a power of attorney for a temporary delegation of parental powers for the care and custody of a child to another person. However, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals held in Lubinski v.

Lubinski, 2008 WI App 151, 314 Wis. 2d 395, 761 N.W.2d 676, that a court has no authority to delegate a service member's allocation of physical placement periods to another person without the other parent's agreement.

The bill maintains current law relating to determining or revising a legal custody or physical placement order between parents, but provides two new methods for creating a temporary delegation of custodial responsibilities to another person during a parent's deployment: a temporary agreement between the parents or a temporary court order following a hearing.

Temporary agreement Under a temporary agreement entered into by the parents, custodial responsibilities or visitation may be shared with any agreed-upon person. The agreement must identify the specific arrangements for custodial responsibility or visitation, a process to resolve any dispute that may arise, and arrangements for the deploying parent's contact with the child during the deployment and while on leave.

The temporary agreement must be signed by both parents and any other person with whom custodial responsibility is shared, and, if the child is the subject of an underlying action affecting the family, the agreement must be filed with the court that has jurisdiction in that action.

Temporary court order Under proceedings for a temporary court order, unless a proceeding is prohibited by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, custodial responsibilities or visitation may be granted upon a deploying parent's request to a stepparent, grandparent, or great-grandparent or to an adult who has a parent-like relationship with the child. The arrangements must be found to be in the best interests of the child, using the best-interest factors identified in current state law for legal custody and physical placement determinations, placing particular emphasis on maintaining sibling relationships.

Under the bill, a delegation of physical placement cannot be greater than a child's habitual or court-ordered physical placement with the deploying parent unless otherwise agreed to by the other parent or as needed to add any unusual travel time. Additionally, a delegation of custodial responsibilities or visitation cannot be granted to a person who was previously denied those rights.

Similar to a temporary agreement, a temporary court order must identify the specific arrangements for custodial responsibility or visitation, a process to resolve any dispute that may arise, and arrangements for the deploying parent's contact with the child during the deployment and while on leave. If a court issues a temporary order, or a temporary agreement has been filed, a court may enter a temporary order for child support.

When a court receives a motion for a temporary delegation of custodial responsibilities during deployment, the court must conduct a hearing within 30 days and must allow a parent or other person to appear by electronic means if the person is not available to personally appear, unless there is good cause to require a personal appearance.

Initiation The bill applies to a service member who is deployed between 30 days and 18 months in accordance with service orders that are designated as unaccompanied, do not authorize dependent travel, or otherwise do not permit movement of a child to the location. As applied in the bill, service may include service in the U.S. armed forces, including any reserve component; the national guard of any state; the merchant marine; the commissioned corps of the U.S. Public Health Service; or the commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

To begin the process, if a parent receives a deployment order, the parent must provide notice of the deployment to the other parent within seven days or as soon as reasonably possible. As soon as reasonably possible after providing the notice, the parents must provide each other with a plan for fulfilling their respective shares of custodial responsibility during the deployment.

Termination T he bill specifies that temporary arrangements under either an agreement or court order terminate immediately upon the return of a deploying parent if the deployment is for less than six months, 30 days after the return of a deploying parent if the deployment is for six months or more, or on a date that is specified by stipulation by the parties or a court order.

Failure to comply; penalties If a parent has acted in bad faith or intentionally failed to comply with a temporary court order or other requirement under these provisions, the bill specifies that a court may assess reasonable attorney fees and costs and may order other appropriate relief.

Forms The bill asks the Wisconsin Court Records Management Committee to develop a form that parents may use to enter into an agreement, and a form to file a motion with a court, for a temporary delegation of custodial responsibilities for a child during a parent's deployment.