The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
004A
:
MILITARY PARENTS' RIGHTS ACT
(Cite as: 15 V.S.A. § 684)
-
§ 684. Emergency motion to modify; permanent modification
(a) Upon the return of the deploying parent, either parent may file a motion to modify
the temporary order on the grounds that compliance with the order will result in immediate
danger of irreparable harm to the child, and may request that the court issue an ex
parte order. The deploying parent may file such a motion prior to his or her return.
The motion shall be accompanied by an affidavit in support of the requested order.
Upon a finding of irreparable harm based on the facts set forth in the affidavit,
the court may issue an ex parte order modifying parental rights and responsibilities
and parent-child contact. If the court issues an ex parte order, the court shall set
the matter for hearing within 14 days from the issuance of the order.
(b) Nothing in this chapter shall preclude the court from hearing a motion for permanent
modification of parental rights and responsibilities or parent-child contact prior
to or upon return of the deploying parent. The moving party shall bear the burden
of showing a real, substantial, and unanticipated change in circumstances and that
resumption of the parental rights and responsibilities or parent-child order in effect
before the deployment is no longer in the child’s best interests. Absence created
by deployment or mobilization or the potential for future deployment or mobilization
shall not be the sole factor supporting a real, substantial, and unanticipated change
in circumstances pursuant to section 668 of this title. (Added 2009, No. 69 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. March 3, 2010; amended 2017, No. 11, § 41.)