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Do I Keep To The Custody Schedule During Quarantine?
Joint custody after divorce is difficult under the best conditions, where communication between both parties is plentiful and respectful, everyone’s in agreement about the terms, and trauma from the relationship’s dissolution is no longer having a heavy impact on either parent or child. But the conditions of a dangerous, global pandemic that’s prompted shelter-in-place orders across the country are brand new to us all. With courts closed across counties, there aren’t a lot of options left for co-parents but to figure it out on their own.
Many states’ shelter-in-place laws include language that seems to allow for continuation of a normal child custody schedule. Maryland, for example, lists the exception 2.b.iv, which allows “Travel required by a law enforcement officer or court order.” California’s order, on the other hand, doesn’t take a clear stance and instead directs readers who want more information to a broken link (thanks to a bad embed in their document). Colorado couldn’t agree on whether they should even shelter-in-place at all. You can see how things get tricky with inter-state custody agreements, especially. With all this inconsistent messaging, it’s no wonder parents are confused.
Regardless, with the legal system more or less shut down and police preoccupied with far more dire matters (domestic violence is on the…
