National Guardsman Loses Custody of Son While in Iraq

By Christina Rentz

Published on August 26, 2005

Joe McNeilly returned from an active duty tour in Iraq to find that his shared custody privileges had been terminated. He claims the judge used his absence during deployment as grounds for the termination.

The boy's mother, Holly Erb, and her attorney claim the new child custody arrangement has nothing to do with Joe's deployment and everything to do with his parenting skills. Holly says Joe treated their son like a friend and acted inappropriately on several occasions, exposing the boy to violent material and conversations.

However, court documents from the May hearing reveal the court ruled in favor of Holly because she was the daily caretaker and decision maker for her son.

Guard officials and state lawmakers claim this case is the latest in a disturbing trend in which armed forces personnel return from deployment in Iraq to discover their custodial rights have been revoked.

In an effort to stop this trend, Michigan lawmakers have introduced a bill that would prevent family court judges from using a soldier's absence during active duty as a reason to revoke shared custody.

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