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information may be outdated and it is important to look at the court’s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.

The
emergency cases and other cases that are enumerated in the standing orders are
clearly the highest priorities. Judges want to get done are the trials that have
already started and are already in progress. The courts want to conclude a
trial that started prior to the COVID-19 then to start a new trial.  The courts are likely to be extremely backlogged
with cases so you want to use common sense including if you have a trial in
progress using the time available to the best of your abilities.