(0:00 – 0:15)
Hello, everyone, I’m Dr. Michael Mantell for another edition of Family Law Matters with Bonnie Rabinovitch-Mantel, the owner and managing partner of the Primus Family Law Group. Hello, Bonnie. Hi, Michael.

(0:16 – 0:19)
How are you doing today? Doing well. Doing well. Thank you.

(0:20 – 0:36)
Bonnie, interesting topic. I know Primus Family Law Group focuses much of their care and concern on military personnel. And that’s a very unique interest in family law.

(0:37 – 1:23)
The question that pops is, someone has been deployed for six months or some period of time, and wherever it may be, nationally or internationally, now, what happens with child custody when that person comes back from service? Well, thankfully, it’s actually a law, because we do not punish our military members for going off and serving our country or doing what they have to do to keep us safe by taking away their custody because they’ve been gone for a long time. So it is actually codified that they get to have the exact same schedule they had before they left. They don’t have to go to court and request it.

(1:23 – 1:47)
There’s no change in circumstances that would apply to this situation. Because understand that if you haven’t seen your kids in normal, in regular job situations, if you choose not to see your child for six or seven months, the other parent can go in and say, hey, things have changed. But that’s not what happens with our military, because they’re away involuntarily.

(1:48 – 2:07)
I mean, they’re being deployed. And that accounts even if you’re deployed, you know, if you’re on ship in town, because you could be deployed but not going anywhere, but you still don’t have the same rights of visitation that you would normally have. So it is codified that they get the same visitation schedule when they come home.

(2:07 – 2:57)
And if someone in the military contacts you or one of your team at Primus Family Law Group, and they have that kind of an issue, do you go, is it regular court or is it a military type of a court? All family issues are done in family court. So their situation, if it’s a product of a divorce or a paternity or a parental relationship situation, goes to family court. And what’s nice about this situation, I guess nice, is if we have to go to court because the other parent is refusing to return to the previous schedule, chances are we are entitled to ask for sanctions against that parent, because usually counsel will send a letter saying, hey, in case you don’t know this, here’s the code that says this, please resume.

(2:57 – 3:28)
And if they still don’t do it, judges don’t like that. We appreciate and preserve and cherish our military members. What happens if mom and dad are both in the military, and does it happen that both can be deployed and the children are now with grandparents or aunts and uncles or something like that? Well, I think the military tries not to deploy both parents at the same time, unless there are willing and able guardians.

(3:29 – 3:52)
So if that does happen and grandparents take over, again, military members come back and they get their kids back. It has happened that grandparents then want visitation because they’ve established really close ties with these children. And you try to hope that people will work together to include grandparents in that arrangement.

(3:52 – 4:21)
If they don’t, grandparents are entitled to file their own petition for custody and visitation of the children if they meet certain criteria. It’s so interesting to me that since I’ve known you for many, many years, Primus Family Law Group has always had a special interest and concern for folks in the military. Might I ask you, where does that come from? Well, we are very fortunate to have military related members.

(4:21 – 4:32)
We have Amy Maldonado, Amy West, who is married to a military member. Sean Torley is a former veteran. Well, he’s a veteran, sorry, not a former veteran, he’s a veteran.

(4:32 – 4:53)
And that gives us a unique perspective. But just as a general culture of Primus, we understand and respect the military highly. I mean, I’m originally Canadian, and I cherish the US military highly, having been protected by them as well across the border.

(4:54 – 5:02)
We do recognize that. Yeah, it’s palpable. When you walk into the Primus Family Law Group offices, you just sense that level of respect.

(5:03 – 5:34)
So if people in the military or anyone else wants to be in touch with you for a free 30-minute consultation, how can they be in touch? They can reach us at 619-574-8000, and we will set them up for a consult to see how we can help them. We also do offer a military discount to our military members. And if you want to reach out to us online, you can reach out, www.primusfamilylaw.com. There’s a form you can fill out, and we will reach back out to you.

(5:35 – 5:42)
Lani, thanks again for such a wonderfully informative Family Law Matters edition. See you next time. Thank you, Michael.

(5:42 – 5:43)
See you soon.