2015 PA 52 – Child Custody Act (effective 9-7-15)

The Child Custody Act has incorporated the Service Members Civil Relief Act. If a motion for change of custody is filed while a parent is deployed, the court cannot consider the parent’s absence due to the deployment or the duration of the deployment in a best interest determination. If a motion for change of custody is filed during a parent’s deployment, the parent may file a stay and the court must consider the application.

The court cannot modify or establish an order that changes the child’s placement that existed on the date the parent was deployed, but a court may enter a temporary order if there is clear and convincing evidence it is in the child’s best interest. A court may include a limit on the period of time the temporary custody order remains in effect.

At any stage prior to final judgment, the parent may request a stay or an extension of a stay. The application is sufficient if it is a signed and certified written statement and the court may consider the request without having the parties present.

The parent must inform the court of the end of deployment no later than 30 days after the deployment end date. Upon notification, the court must reinstate the immediately preceding custody order of the period of deployment. If a motion for change of custody is filed after a parent returns from deployment, the court cannot consider the parent’s absence due to that deployment or future deployment in making a best interest determination.

If the parents share custody, the deploying parent must notify the other parent of an upcoming deployment within a reasonable period of time.

2015 PA 50 – Child Custody Act (effective 9-7-15)

Unless both parents provide written consent, a parenting time order must prohibit parenting time in a country that is not a party to the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

2015 PA 51 – Child Custody Act (effective 9-7-15)

Redefined “active duty” and “deployment.”