SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL 130
51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2014
AN ACT
RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS; ENACTING THE DEPLOYED PARENTS CUSTODY AND VISITATION ACT; ESTABLISHING PROCEDURES FOR MODIFYING EXISTING CUSTODY, TIME-SHARING OR VISITATION ORDERS FOR CHILDREN OF SERVICE MEMBERS; PROHIBITING ENTRY OF FINAL ORDERS MODIFYING EXISTING CHILD CUSTODY, TIME-SHARING OR VISITATION ORDERS WHILE A SERVICE MEMBER IS UNAVAILABLE PURSUANT TO MILITARY ORDERS; PROHIBITING THE MODIFICATION OF EXISTING CHILD CUSTODY, TIME-SHARING OR VISITATION ORDERS SOLELY BECAUSE A SERVICE MEMBER IS ABSENT OR MIGHT BE ABSENT PURSUANT TO MILITARY ORDERS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the "Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act".
SECTION 2. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act:
A. "adult" means an individual who has attained eighteen years of age or is an emancipated minor;
B. "caretaking authority" means the right to live with and care for a child on a day-to-day basis. "Caretaking authority" includes physical custody, parenting time, right to access and visitation;
C. "child" means:
(1) an unemancipated individual who has not attained eighteen years of age; or
(2) an adult son or daughter by birth or adoption, or under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, who is the subject of a court order concerning custodial responsibility;
D. "court" means a tribunal, including an administrative agency, authorized under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, to make, enforce or modify a decision regarding custodial responsibility;
E. "custodial responsibility" includes all powers and duties relating to caretaking authority and decision-making authority for a child. "Custodial responsibility" includes physical custody, legal custody, parenting time, right to access, visitation and authority to grant limited contact with a child;
F. "decision-making authority" means the power to make important decisions regarding a child, including decisions regarding the child's education, religious training, health care, extracurricular activities and travel. "Decision-making authority" does not include the power to make decisions that necessarily accompany a grant of caretaking authority;
G. "deploying parent" means a service member who is deployed or has been notified of impending deployment and is:
(1) a parent of a child under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act; or
(2) an individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act;
H. "deployment" means the movement or mobilization of a service member for more than ninety days but less than eighteen months pursuant to uniformed service orders that:
(1) are designated as unaccompanied;
(2) do not authorize dependent travel; or
(3) otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed;
I. "family member" means a sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, stepparent or grandparent of a child or an individual recognized to be in a familial relationship with a child under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act;
J. "limited contact" means the authority of a nonparent to visit a child for a limited time. "Limited contact" includes authority to take the child to a place other than the residence of the child;
K. "nonparent" means an individual other than a deploying parent or other parent;
L. "other parent" means an individual who, in common with a deploying parent, is:
(1) a parent of a child under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act; or
(2) an individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act;
M. "record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;
N. "return from deployment" means the conclusion of a service member's deployment as specified in uniformed service orders;
O. "service member" means a member of a uniformed service;
P. "sign" means with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record to:
(1) execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(2) attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound or process;
Q. "state" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and
R. "uniformed service" means:
(1) active and reserve components of the army, navy, air force, marine corps or coast guard of the United States;
(2) the United States merchant marine;
(3) the commissioned corps of the United States public health service;
(4) the commissioned corps of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration of the United States; or
(5) the national guard of a state.
SECTION 3. [NEW MATERIAL] RESIDENCE UNCHANGED BY DEPLOYMENT.--
A. If a court has issued a temporary order regarding custodial responsibility pursuant to the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, the residence of the deploying parent is not considered to be changed by reason of the deployment for the purposes of the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act during the deployment.
B. If a court has issued a permanent order regarding custodial responsibility before notice of deployment and the parents modify that order temporarily by agreement pursuant to the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, the residence of the deploying parent is not considered to be changed by reason of the deployment for the purposes of the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act.
C. If a court in another state has issued a temporary order regarding custodial responsibility as a result of impending or current deployment, the residence of the deploying parent is not considered to be changed by reason of the deployment for the purposes of the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act.
SECTION 4. [NEW MATERIAL] NOTIFICATION REQUIRED OF DEPLOYING PARENT.--
A. Except as otherwise provided in Subsection D of this section and subject to Subsection C of this section, a deploying parent shall notify in a record the other parent of a pending deployment not later than seven days after receiving notice of deployment unless reasonably prevented from doing so by the circumstances of service.
B. Except as otherwise provided in Subsection D of this section and subject to Subsection C of this section, each parent shall provide in a record the other parent with a plan for fulfilling that parent's share of custodial responsibility during deployment. Each parent shall provide the plan as soon as reasonably possible after notification of deployment.
C. If a court order currently in effect prohibits disclosure of the address or contact information of the other parent, notification of deployment pursuant to Subsection A of this section or notification of a plan for custodial responsibility during deployment pursuant to Subsection B of this section may be made only to the issuing court. If the address of the other parent is available to the issuing court, the court shall forward the notification to the other parent. The court shall keep confidential the address or contact information of the other parent.
D. Notification in a record under Subsection A or B of this section is not required if the parents are living in the same residence and both parents have actual notice of the deployment or plan.
SECTION 5. [NEW MATERIAL] DUTY TO NOTIFY OF CHANGE OF ADDRESS.--
A. Except as otherwise provided in Subsection B of this section, an individual to whom custodial responsibility has been granted during deployment pursuant to the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act shall notify the deploying parent and any other individual with custodial responsibility of a child of any change of the individual's mailing address or residence until the custodial responsibility is terminated. B. If a court order currently in effect prohibits disclosure of the address or contact information of an individual to whom custodial responsibility has been granted, a notification pursuant to Subsection A of this section may be made only to the court that issued the order. The court shall keep confidential the mailing address or residence of the individual to whom custodial responsibility has been granted.
SECTION 6. [NEW MATERIAL] GENERAL CONSIDERATION IN CUSTODY PROCEEDING OF PARENT'S MILITARY SERVICE.--In a proceeding for custodial responsibility of a child of a service member, a court shall not consider a parent's past deployment or possible future deployment in itself in determining the best interest of the child.
SECTION 7. [NEW MATERIAL] AGREEMENT ADDRESSING CUSTODIAL RESPONSIBILITY DURING DEPLOYMENT--FORM OF AGREEMENT.--
A. The parents of a child may enter into a temporary agreement granting custodial responsibility during deployment under the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act.
B. A temporary agreement pursuant to Subsection A of this section shall be:
(1) in writing; and
(2) signed by both parents and any nonparent to whom custodial responsibility is granted.
SECTION 8. [NEW MATERIAL] NATURE OF AUTHORITY CREATED BY AGREEMENT.--
A. An agreement under the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act is temporary and terminates pursuant to that act after the deploying parent returns from deployment, unless the agreement has been terminated before that time by court order. The agreement does not create an independent, continuing right to caretaking authority, decision-making authority or limited contact in an individual to whom custodial responsibility is given.
B. A nonparent who has caretaking authority, decision-making authority or limited contact by an agreement pursuant to the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act has standing to enforce the agreement until it has been terminated by court order.
SECTION 9. [NEW MATERIAL] EXPEDITED HEARING.--If a motion to grant custodial responsibility is filed pursuant to the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act before a deploying parent deploys, the court shall conduct an expedited hearing.
SECTION 10. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2014.
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