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Legal Information: Pennsylvania

Custody

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Updated: 
December 15, 2023

What happens if a deployed parent does not attend the court hearing for a petition to modify the custody order?

Under normal circumstances, if a respondent doesn’t appear in court to answer a petition to modify a custody order, the petitioner may be able to get an order based on that parent’s default. However, a person’s failure to appear in court due to deployment is not a sufficient reason to change a custody order in that person’s absence.1

1 51 Pa.C.S.A § 4109(d)