CT HB05395

Courts cannot enter final custody or visitation order modifications for 90 days after a deployed military parent returns from deployment or mobilization, unless the deploying parent agrees to the modification earlier.

Courts may enter temporary custody or visitation modifications during deployment or mobilization if the deployment materially affects the deploying parent's ability to exercise parental rights and the modification is in the child's best interests.

Temporary modification orders must require the nondeploying parent to make the child available during the deploying parent's leave, facilitate electronic contact, and provide 30 days' advance written notice of address or phone number changes.

Nondeploying parents seeking to modify custody orders after a parent's return must prove that changing the pre-deployment orders is in the child's best interests; the parent's absence due to deployment alone cannot be the sole basis for modification.

Armed forces members trained and certified as victim advocates or sexual assault prevention coordinators under the military's sexual assault prevention and response program are now included in confidential communications protections previously available only to civilian counselors.