Military Custody in South Dakota

The Intersection of Military Service and South Dakota Custody Law

South Dakota is home to Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City and hosts Army National Guard and Reserve units across the state. Military parents face custody challenges that civilians do not — deployments, permanent change of station (PCS) orders, and training rotations that can pull a parent away for months at a time. Both federal law and South Dakota state law address these realities, but they interact in ways that require careful planning.

Federal Protection: The SCRA

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) provides the most important federal safeguard for deployed military parents in custody proceedings. Under the SCRA, a service member who receives notice of a custody action while on active duty — or who is about to deploy — can request a stay (postponement) of the proceedings for at least 90 days. The stay can be renewed if the military obligation continues.

To invoke the SCRA, the service member files a letter or declaration with the court that includes:

• A statement explaining how the current military duty materially affects their ability to participate in the proceedings
• A date when they expect to be available
• A letter from their commanding officer stating that current military duty prevents appearance and that military leave is not authorized at the time of the letter

The court must grant the initial 90-day stay if these requirements are met. This prevents a custody determination from proceeding while a parent is overseas or at a remote training site and unable to appear, hire local counsel, or gather evidence.

Deployment and Custody Modification

One of the biggest fears military parents have is that a deployment will be used against them — that the other parent will file for a custody modification while they are gone and argue that the children are now "established" in the other household. South Dakota addresses this through the same standard it applies to all custody modifications: the filing parent must show a "substantial change in circumstances" affecting the child's welfare.

South Dakota law provides that a parent's past deployment or possible future deployment may not be considered by itself in determining the child's best interests. Deployment is therefore not, standing alone, a basis for a custody decision; the court still considers the child's welfare and the actual circumstances before it.

Family Care Plans and Delegation of Parenting Time

Every military parent with dependents is required by their branch to maintain a Family Care Plan — a formal document that identifies who will care for the children during a deployment or extended training absence. While the Family Care Plan is a military administrative requirement (not a court order), it plays a practical role in custody disputes because it shows the court that the deploying parent has arranged for responsible care.

In South Dakota, under the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act (SDCL Chapter 25-4B), a deploying parent can ask the court for a temporary order granting custodial responsibility to an eligible nonparent — typically an adult family member or another adult with a close and substantial relationship with the child — during deployment. This temporary order:

• Preserves the deploying parent's parenting time allocation rather than letting it lapse, subject to the court's order and the child's best interests
• Gives the designated caregiver temporary caretaking authority during deployment; it does not create an independent, continuing right to custody or visitation
• Ends under Article 4 after the deploying parent returns, unless ended earlier by court order

Getting this temporary order before deployment — rather than trying to sort it out after the fact — is the single most important thing a military parent can do to protect their custody rights.

PCS Moves and Relocation

A permanent change of station order can trigger South Dakota's relocation notice requirements under SDCL § 25-4A-17. If the PCS move relocates the child's primary residence, the custodial parent must provide 45 days' written notice to the other parent (see South Dakota Custody Relocation Rules for the full process).

The key tension: military parents cannot refuse a PCS order, but the other parent can still object to the relocation of the child. In practice, courts tend to give weight to the involuntary nature of the move, but the relocating parent still needs to propose a revised parenting plan that preserves the other parent's relationship with the child. For moves to distant installations, the long-distance schedule under Form UJS-302 (summer blocks, alternating holiday periods) typically forms the starting framework.

Practical Steps for Military Parents

If you are a military parent in South Dakota facing a custody proceeding or a deployment:

1. Invoke the SCRA immediately if you receive custody papers while deployed or about to deploy. Do not let a default judgment happen because you missed a filing deadline during a field exercise.
2. File for a temporary delegation order before you leave. Designate a responsible family member to exercise your parenting time during the absence.
3. Document everything. Keep copies of deployment orders, Family Care Plans, communication logs with your child during absences, and any arrangements you make with the other parent.
4. Notify your installation's legal assistance office. Military legal assistance attorneys can help with SCRA filings, temporary custody modifications, and coordination with civilian counsel in South Dakota.

The South Dakota Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide includes a parenting-time schedule planner and agency communication log that work well for military families — tracking which blocks of time were exercised, documenting communication during absences, and building the evidence trail that shows the court a deploying parent remains actively involved in their child's life.

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