Section 40-10D-2 – Definitions

May 17, 2021 | Family Law, New Mexico

As used in the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act:

A. “adult” means an individual who has attained eighteen years of age or is an emancipated minor;
B. “caretaking authority” means the right to live with and care for a child on a day-today basis. “Caretaking authority” includes physical custody, parenting time, right to access and visitation;
C. “child” means:

(1) an unemancipated individual who has not attained eighteen years of age; or
(2) an adult son or daughter by birth or adoption, or under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, who is the subject of a court order concerning custodial responsibility;
D. “court” means a tribunal, including an administrative agency, authorized under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, to make, enforce or modify a decision regarding custodial responsibility;
E. “custodial responsibility” includes all powers and duties relating to caretaking authority and decision-making authority for a child. “Custodial responsibility” includes physical custody, legal custody, parenting time, right to access, visitation and authority to grant limited contact with a child;
F. “decision-making authority” means the power to make important decisions regarding a child, including decisions regarding the child’s education, religious training, health care, extracurricular activities and travel. “Decision-making authority” does not include the power to make decisions that necessarily accompany a grant of caretaking authority;
G. “deploying parent” means a service member who is deployed or has been notified of impending deployment and is:

(1) a parent of a child under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act; or
(2) an individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act;
H. “deployment” means the movement or mobilization of a service member for more than ninety days but less than eighteen months pursuant to uniformed service orders that:

(1) are designated as unaccompanied;
(2) do not authorize dependent travel; or
(3) otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed;
I. “family member” means a sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, stepparent or grandparent of a child or an individual recognized to be in a familial relationship with a child under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act;
J. “limited contact” means the authority of a nonparent to visit a child for a limited time. “Limited contact” includes authority to take the child to a place other than the residence of the child;
K. “nonparent” means an individual other than a deploying parent or other parent;
L. “other parent” means an individual who, in common with a deploying parent, is:

(1) a parent of a child under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act; or
(2) an individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act;
M. “record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;
N. “return from deployment” means the conclusion of a service member’s deployment as specified in uniformed service orders;
O. “service member” means a member of a uniformed service;
P. “sign” means with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record to:

(1) execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(2) attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound or process;
Q. “state” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and
R. “uniformed service” means:

(1) active and reserve components of the army, navy, air force, marine corps or coast guard of the United States;
(2) the United States merchant marine;
(3) the commissioned corps of the United States public health service;
(4) the commissioned corps of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration of the United States; or
(5) the national guard of a state.

NMS § 40-10D-2

Laws 2014, ch. 4, § 2.
Added by 2014, c. 4,s. 2, eff. 7/1/2014.