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Legal Information: Pennsylvania

Custody

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Laws current as of March 12, 2026

What is custodial responsibility for a military deployment agreement or order?

If you or the other parent will be deploying, you may make an agreement or ask the judge for an order that temporarily gives custodial responsibility to someone else.

Custodial responsibility includes:

  • caretaking authority – the right to care for the children and have them live with, spend time with, or visit with you (physical custody);
  • decision-making authority – the right to make important decisions about the children (legal custody); and
  • limited contact – the right to allow another person to have some contact with the children, less than partial physical custody.1 

To read more about temporary custody agreements and orders during military deployment, go to Military deployment and custody.

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