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information may be outdated and it is important to look at the court’s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

This
is one that I have had a lot of phone calls about. The first thing I tell
people is that you want to use common sense considering what is going on right
now both in terms of parenting with the other parent and the courts level of
involvement.  Judges are going to look at
the situation’s facts specifically on each case. There can be issues where one
parent has symptoms of the COVID-19; has tested positive for the virus or is at
high risk such as being in the medical field. I have had a variety of different
questions like this that have come up. There are questions about whether the
parent should file an emergency motion to stop the visits; whether there should
be a contempt and if you are the parent that had the visits stopped for not a
valid reason.  There are issues about
whether the child is supposed to go out or stay in or if someone is coming back
from out of state such as New York or things of that nature. There have been
issues about one parent having a different view point from the other; about
social distancing and that one has been very common. 

Some
people are very cautious and I think rightfully so; other people are taking
their children to other family members homes and out in public.  The question is, does it reach the level of
an emergency?  There are variety of
different circumstances that can be looked at, a good possibility would be is
to go to a mediator to try and have the issues resolved through a mediator; a
parenting coordinator or a conciliator prior to going right to court. If there
is a Guardian ad Litem (“GAL”) involved sometimes the GAL will help address
these issues as well.