Child Custody and Visitation During Military Deployment in the District

D.C. Code 16-914.02, enacted in 2012, protects parents who deploy. Temporary orders. A deploying parent may ask for an expedited hearing for a temporary custody or visitation order where none exists, and either parent may ask to modify an existing order to accommodate a deployment. The temporary order must say that the deployment is its basis and that it ends, and the old order resumes, within 10 days after the deploying parent can resume custody or visitation, unless the court finds resumption no longer in the child's best interest. On that question the non-deploying parent carries the burden. What the order can require. The non-deploying parent can be required to accommodate the deploying parent's leave and to facilitate calls and electronic contact. The deploying parent can be required to give timely notice of leave, and a late notice caused by a changed leave schedule cannot be used against them. Delegated visitation. The court may delegate all or part of the deploying parent's visitation to a family member with a close and substantial relationship to the child, for the deployment only, without creating separate rights for that relative. No permanent change because of deployment. Subsection (c): no permanent order modifying custody or visitation until 90 days after the deployment ends, and neither deployment nor the possibility of a future one, by itself, is a material change of circumstances. Remote testimony. Subsection (d) lets a deploying parent present testimony by affidavit or electronically. Who is covered. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, National Guard and reserve components. Activation excludes annual training, drill weekends and "active duty within the District", so a District Guard member on a mission in the District is not a deploying parent for this section.