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Editorial: Fix custody rules

A New York appeals court has upheld a 2006 ruling that should send chills through the ranks.

The ruling forced divorced Spc. Tanya Towne to give up full physical custody of her son to her ex-husband — simply because she was deploying to Iraq.

Towne’s ex-husband originally sought temporary custody when Towne got deployment orders in 2004. By then, Towne said, she had remarried and her son, now 12, had formed a strong bond with her second husband.

She tried to invoke the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act, a federal law that is supposed to defer noncriminal court petitions involving deployed troops. But the court granted her ex-husband’s petition just before she left. Then, when she returned from Iraq and tried to regain custody, the court rebuffed her again, giving Towne’s ex-husband permanent physical custody.

In upholding that ruling, the appeals court said both Towne and her ex-husband are “excellent” parents, with stable jobs and an “unwavering commitment” to their son’s well-being. But the judges felt compelled to “consider the consequences of [Towne’s] extended absence,” and ruled her ex-husband’s situation was more “settled.”

The 2008 defense authorization bill would protect troops by limiting the courts’ authority to change child custody arrangements while a member is deployed, and would bar courts from considering deployment as a factor in determining the best interests of a child.

Once the bill is enacted, Congress must ensure the courts take heed. Troops should not have to worry about losing their children while serving their country.