May Standing Orders for COVID-19 and Mass Juvenile Court – Adoptions/Guardianship’s

Adoptions

The recent Standing Order OE-144 has closed courthouses off to the public other than for emergency situations. This order goes into effect May 4, 2020 and will be in effect until at least June 1, 2020.

This order is applicable to adoptions. According to Mass.gov, if a party wants to hold the adoption as originally scheduled, an in-person hearing will not take place but “the court will issue the appropriate decree on the originally scheduled date,” and mail it to the party. If this doesn’t take place, the court will hold the hearing virtually.

If DCF has an adoption packet ready for the court and the parties want to move forward with said adoption, the court will schedule the issuance of the decree as quickly as they can. There will be no in-person hearing, and possibly it will instead be held virtually.

Guardianships

The recent Standing Order OE-144 has closed courthouses off to the public other than for emergency situations. This order goes into effect May 4, 2020 and will be in effect until at least June 1, 2020.

This order may be applied to guardianship’s, which according to Mass.gov, will take place virtually after the report has been reviewed by the court (if the court believes a hearing is necessary).