COVID-19 in Massachusetts Probate and Family Court

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  This information may be outdated and it is important to look at the court’s website.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