Disclaimer:  This is a series of blogs related to the
impact of COVID-19 on the court system; in particular, the Massachusetts
Probate and Family Court.  This
information may be outdated and it is important to look at the court’s
website.  Also, different courts have
different particularities.  I have gotten
this from both speaking to other lawyers’ and the staff at the Probate and
Family Court along with Zoom conferences and other articles along with reading
the standing orders.

Currently
the courts are closed at least until May 4, 2020 for in person, non-emergency
hearings.  Court filings can still be
processed.  The courts have partial staff
either working at the courts or remotely and pleadings are being
processed.  Some of the people at the
Registry of Probate are in favor of having the cases or most of people are in
favor of having the cases still come in so they are not inundated with new
filings at a later point when the courts are opened.

In
addition, in order to continue to file an Answer and Counterclaims are that it
appears that most courts are likely when the courts re-open to start scheduling
Motions and Pre-trials and other matters that are of a non-emergency level
based on when they are filed.  So, there
is a big advantage to filing a Complaint for Modification or a Complaint for
Divorce or what have you rather than waiting until the courts are fully
re-opened.

Furthermore,
most of the courts are allowing e-filing for certain cases and allowing email
filings. There is not an ability to go to court in person but most courts are
having a drop box where they can leave paperwork for you if you can’t access it
on line and they can pick up the hard copies as well. You can also mail the
pleadings to the court.