How Does Coronavirus Affect Custody Issues?

[Source: ABC 7 News]

Celebrity divorce lawyer Peter M. Walzer explains how the Coronavirus affects custody issues of divorced parents.

This coronavirus crisis has had a dramatic impact on family dynamics. Even more so in families where divorce and parents and custody issues are playing out. It’s so difficult in the first place. We’re joined by celebrity divorce lawyer Peter M. Walzer, partner at Walzer Melcher top family law firm and he’s joining us now to discuss how parents can navigate such a sensitive issue. How is the COVID-19 crisis affecting the way divorcing or divorced couples are trying to share their children?

“Parents don’t know what to do if a parent has been exposed to COVID-19 or there’s a rumor that they have. They don’t know whether to do the transfer. They can’t go to court. Courts are only hearing the most dire emergency, domestic violence or child abuse cases. So they have nowhere to go except to figure it out themselves,” explains top family law attorney Peter M. Walzer.

What can happen if somebody does the wrong thing in this situation? I mean, we always hear about the forgiveness when it comes to our bills and our rent but you don’t want to do the wrong thing and have it come back and hurt you in the end when let’s say the courts start to move forward. “And that will be a long time. We don’t know what the courts will do. We’re hoping that they’re going to understand the crisis, but there are some parents who are taking advantage of this situation and they may be in trouble later on but that’s going to be a long way down the road,” says Peter M. Walzer, high net worth divorce attorney. So, so how are people resolving their disputes then?

“Some people are just operating as normal, but of course, if one parent fears that the other parent has been exposed or a child has been exposed, they’re simply making that decision on their own not to transfer the children. Right or wrong, it may come back to haunt them, 50/50 quarterbacking, but that’s what’s happening. People are making their own decisions. It’s a very tough one,” states Peter M. Walzer of top family law firm Walzer Melcher LLP.

We hope that parents watching this right now, just take a deep breath and try to figure out what’s best for the kids at the end of all of this. Aired on 4/7/20 ©2020 ABC Inc. No claims made to copyrighted material.