Deployment does not, by itself, change an existing custody order. Federal law, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, provides specific protections for deploying parents, including limits on using a deployment as the reason for a permanent custody change and a requirement that any temporary custody order entered because of a deployment generally must expire once the deployment ends. Many military families also prepare a family care plan, but that plan works alongside a court order rather than replacing one.
What the SCRA generally protects against
The SCRA is designed to prevent a servicemember's deployment from being used against them in a custody dispute. Courts are generally barred from treating a parent's absence due to deployment, by itself, as a basis for a permanent change to custody in the child's best interests. The law also allows a servicemember to request a stay, essentially a pause, of a custody proceeding when military duties genuinely prevent the servicemember from participating, subject to specific requirements for that request.
Temporary custody during deployment
Many custody arrangements involving a servicemember address deployment directly, allowing a temporary transfer of the deploying parent's time to another appropriate caregiver, sometimes a new spouse, a grandparent, or the other parent, for the length of the deployment. Under the SCRA, a temporary order issued for this purpose is generally required to expire once the deployment that justified it is over, so the pre-deployment schedule can resume.
Family care plans are not court orders
A family care plan is a document servicemembers are generally expected to prepare, identifying who will care for dependents during deployment, and it is filed with the service branch rather than with a family court. It can be useful evidence of a servicemember's intentions and planning, but it does not carry the same legal weight as a custody order, and the other parent can still petition a court for a different arrangement regardless of what the family care plan says.
Why this matters for a case
Because both the SCRA's federal protections and any additional state-level protections for military parents can affect a specific case, and because deployment timing often makes advance planning valuable, a licensed family law attorney, or a military legal assistance office, can help a servicemember address custody arrangements before, during, and after a deployment.