COVID-19 – What Happens if one Parent is Withholding the Child for a Court Ordered Visitation?

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  This information may be outdated and it is important to look at the court’s website.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