Vermont § 683 - Temporary modification

§ 683. Temporary modification

• (a) Upon motion of a deploying or nondeploying parent, the court shall enter a temporary
  order modifying parental rights and responsibilities or parent-child contact during
  the period of deployment or mobilization when: (1) a military parent who has shared, sole, or primary legal or physical parental rights
  and responsibilities for a child or who has parent-child contact pursuant to an existing
  court order has received notice from military leadership that he or she will deploy
  or mobilize in the near future; and (2) the deployment or mobilization would have a material effect upon his or her ability
  to exercise such parental rights and responsibilities or parent-child contact. (b) Motions for modification because of deployment shall be heard by the court as expeditiously
  as possible, and shall be a priority for this purpose. (c)(1) All temporary modification orders shall include a specific transition schedule to
  facilitate a return to the predeployment order over the shortest reasonable time period
  after the deployment ends, taking into consideration the child’s best interests. (2) The temporary order shall set a date certain for the end of deployment and the start
  of the transition period. If deployment is extended, the temporary order shall remain
  in effect during the extended deployment, and the transition schedule shall take effect
  at the end of the extended deployment. In that case, the nondeployed parent shall
  notify the court of the extended deployment. Failure of the nondeployed parent to
  notify the court in accordance with this subdivision shall not prejudice the deployed
  parent’s right to return to the prior order once the temporary order expires as provided
  in subdivision (3) of this subsection. (3) The temporary order shall expire upon the completion of the transition, and the prior
  order for parental rights and responsibilities and parent-child contact shall be in
  effect. (d) Upon motion of the deploying parent, the court may delegate his or her parent-child
  contact rights, or a portion of them, to a family member, a person with whom the deploying
  parent cohabits, or another person with a close and substantial relationship to the
  minor child or children for the duration of the deployment, upon a finding that it
  is in the child’s best interests. Such delegated contact does not create separate
  rights to parent-child contact for a person other than a parent once the temporary
  order is no longer in effect. (e) A temporary modification order issued pursuant to this section shall designate the
  deploying parent’s parental rights and responsibilities for and parent-child contact
  with a child during a period of leave granted to the deploying parent, in the best
  interests of the child. (f) A temporary order issued under this section may require any of the following if the
  court finds that it is in the best interests of the child: (1) The nondeploying parent shall make the child reasonably available to the deploying
  parent when the deploying parent has leave. (2) The nondeploying parent shall facilitate opportunities for telephonic, electronic
  mail, and other such contact between the deploying parent and the child during deployment. (3) The deploying parent shall provide timely information regarding his or her leave schedule
  to the nondeploying parent. Actual leave dates are subject to change with little notice
  due to military necessity and shall not be used by the nondeploying parent to prevent
  parent-child contact. (g) A court order modifying a previous order for parental rights and responsibilities
  or parent-child contact because of deployment shall specify that the deployment is
  the basis for the order, and it shall be entered by the court as a temporary order.
  The order shall further require the nondeploying parent to provide the court and the
  deploying parent with 30 days’ advance written notice of any change of address and
  any change of telephone number. (Added 2009, No. 69 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. March 3, 2010.)