California Court Resolves Deployment-Related Custody Case

Legal and Practical Relationship Between a Parent and His or Her Child

Attorney Douglas "Doug" Borthwick knows that child custody disputes can be the most difficult and acrimonious cases in the entire

field of family law. Douglas Borthwick, a lawyer with Freeman & Borthwick, has

authored articles about the issues related to child custody. A recent appeals court decision in California clarified how military deployment

should be considered in child custody disputes.

A military couple divorced, and the father received primary custody of his child. While he was deployed, the mother took primary custody. When the soldier returned from Afghanistan, his ex-wife went to court to retain primary custody of the child. A lower court allowed her to keep custody, but the appeals court

found that, according to the original custody agreement, the father should have primary custody when he returned from deployment. The California legislature recently passed a new law clarifying that military deployment should not permanently affect

child custody arrangements, so this situation should not arise again in the state of California.

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