Military families should plan for their children’s care

| Dec 13, 2017 | Military Divorce

There are many military families in Fort Worth, Texas, and Tarrant, Texas. When those families break up, the number one question is how to best address taking care of the children. That can be a challenge for military family law, since military members are often deployed to many different locations, including dangerous ones, to which their former husband or former wife will not accompany them.

Deployment in and of itself, provided children are not exposed to unsafe conditions, should not suffice to prevent a military member from getting custody of their children. However, stability of residence is often a key factor in civilian child custody decisions and is fairly a key factor in military custody decisions as well. After all, children do need stability.

Additionally, a military member may find him or herself too distanced from his or her children to regularly spend time with them. For example, a father with a civilian job in the United States may become divorced from the mother of his children, who as a member of the military is deployed to the Middle East. Situations like that one will affect the amount of time that a military parent can spend with the children, while a civilian parent can provide a stable, consistent home. These conditions can be treated in terms of their effect on the children, irrespective of their origin in the status of the military parent.

It is best for military families to plan in advance for the care of their children, while they are still happily married, and long before they divorce. The family care plan that they make should establish who the family’s short-term caregiver will be, so that person can come over and take care of the children any time he or she is needed. The family care plan should also establish a long-term caregiver for the children in the event of a deployment of the military parent, with neither caregiver being in the military. Care provisions, such as the children’s medical and basic needs, should also be addressed by parents.

If you are dealing with family law issues such as military child custody, an attorney can provide the information you need to make informed decisions.

Source: FindLaw, “Military Child Custody: Key Legal Issues,” accessed Dec. 13, 2017




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