How will Coronavirus and COVID 19 affect access to my child?
You have a court order for access from an Ontario family court. Everything was going well. You were seeing your child and your ex was co-operating. Then the coronavirus happened and everything stopped! What are your rights? How does Covid 19 affect your access rights? How does coronavirus affect your access rights?
The answer to this question depends on the specific fact of each case. Do you have a court order or a separation agreement? Perhaps you don’t have either! How old are the children? What are the access arrangements? What does the separation agreement say? Does your job particularly expose you to the coronavirus? Do you need a Toronto Family Lawyer? Do you need a Toronto Divorce Lawyer?
The Ontario family law courts are currently closed to all but emergency cases. Case law is still developing regarding what will be considered to be an “emergency”. Clearly, child abductions will qualify. Threats to the physical well-being of children will qualify. However, what about denials of access? The following are some guidelines:
(1) The court will be defining “urgent and emergency” matters in the context of family law files to be relative to the “well-being of a child including essential medical decisions or issues relating to the wrongful removal or retention of a child”. Ontario Family Law Courts have also already concluded that “a complete termination of all contact between the child and his [parent] cannot be in the child’s best interests even in these unprecedented times”.
(2) It is in the best interests of children to maintain the status quo and shield them from the impact of family litigation. As such, the Family Law court will not allow a unilateral change to the status quo (the existing access arrangement) unless it is in the children’s best interests. Whether that is so is case specific.
(3) The courts are expecting the parties (and their lawyers) to make every reasonable attempt to reach a settlement before applying to the Family Law court on an urgent basis. Failure to do so will be a ground to award costs against the unreasonable party.
As mentioned, the answer to how Coronavirus and Covid 19 affect your access rights are very case specific. In order to find out how your case will be dealt with, it may be necessary to speak to a Toronto Family Law Lawyer or a Toronto Divorce Lawyer. We would be more than happy to assist you during this very difficult time.
Please contact us at 416-519-5552 or at info@amglaw.ca and one of our lawyers will get back to you immediately.