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If a parent with custody rights has moved away due to military duty, can s/he give those rights to his/her family members?
If a parent receives notice of deployment, the court may issue an order temporarily granting that parent’s custody rights to his/her family members. The custody rights could include shared, primary, partial, sole, or supervised physical custody and/or shared or sole legal custody.1
However, the following circumstances must be met:
- The parent leaving for active duty and the family members seeking temporary custody must petition the court together;
- The petition must include a proposed schedule stating when the family members will care for the child;
- The proposed custody schedule cannot go beyond the custodial rights of the parent leaving for active duty; and
- The court must find that granting temporary custody to the family members is in the child’s best interest.2
1 51 Pa.C.S. § 4109(a.1); 23 Pa.C.S. § 5323(a)
2 51 Pa.C.S. § 4109(a.1)
