These days, more parents have decided to go with divorce when the relationship fails. This means that more military parents also fall into this category. Despite the similarities between civilian and military parents, there are enough differences to cause potential problems.
To address these problems, states often enact forms of legislation that specifically address parents in the military who divorce. But what do these acts really do for families?
Out-of-court arrangement changes
The National Conference of State Legislatures looks into long-distance co-parenting, a situation that many divorced parents must handle. They discuss the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act (UDPCVA), an act which many states have adopted as their go-to option for handling military divorce. Other states have adopted similar acts to address the same issues.
In short, acts like the UDPCVA take the unique hurdles that military divorcees face and give them tools to overcome them. Article 2, for example, allows for parents to have the ability to create temporary changes to visitation and custody arrangements without needing to seek court approval first. This is a huge boon for military parents, who often have to go on deployment or end up relocated to another area with very little warning or time to prepare in advance.
How military parents can protect their rights
Article 3 also provides some protections for military parents by disallowing the non-military parent from making permanent custody changes while their co-parent deals with deployment. This helps alleviate a major concern of military parents, i.e. that things will happen behind their back while they are powerless to stop it and know nothing about what is happening.
Through these provisions, it is possible to have a strong system of co-parenting even with one parent continuing to play their part in the military.