Coronavirus/COVID-19, Divorce

Virtual Family Law Hearings: Are They Here to Stay in 2025?

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson PLLC on 5/15/2025

As a product of the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington courts, like many others, were forced to adopt a virtual format with respect to live hearings and trials. This meant opting to conduct proceedings using Zoom, Microsoft Teams,...more

Religious Institutions Update: October 2023

Holland & Knight LLP on 10/17/2023

Enhanced Airport Screening Did Not Violate Free Exercise Clause In Haidari v. Mayorkas, No. 22-cv-2939 (ECT/ECW), 2023 WL 5487351 (D. Minn. Aug. 24, 2023), the court dismissed the plaintiff's claim that federal agents have...more

Superior Court Takes On Covid Vaccination, Religious & Speech Freedoms All in One Case.

Fox Rothschild LLP on 3/10/2023

On March 1, 2023 a precedential panel decision was issued in Rogowski v. Kirven. They are the parents of O.K. who is nine years old. The couple divorced in 2018 and mom remarried. From 2018 until August 2020 they shared week...more

Is Vaccinating your Children for COVID-19 an Emergency Parenting Decision?

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson PLLC on 4/19/2022

If you are divorcing with children, there are two primary issues that the court must decide as it relates to your kids. The first is a residential schedule which addresses when your children will physically be with you and...more

Kelly Clarkson’s Divorce Brings Family Court Battles over Vaccinating Kids against COVID-19 into Spotlight

Blank Rome LLP on 4/14/2022

In March, former American Idol winner turned mega-star and talk show host Kelly Clarkson settled her bitter divorce from Brandon Blackstock. While most details of the agreement, like the parties’ property division, Clarkson’s...more

Family Law Litigation in Pennsylvania; What Hath Covid Wrought?

Fox Rothschild LLP on 3/21/2022

We try to keep tracks of trends in family law. 2020 was, for many reasons, an unusual year but some trends are continuing when we reviewed the statistic survey published by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts...more

Late or Untimely Discovery Responses in a Child Relocation Act Case: The Lawyer Escapes Sanctions (For Now)

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson PLLC on 2/17/2022

Civil lawsuits can take a long time. After the complaint and other initial pleadings are filed, the next phase of the case will typically turn to what is referred to as “discovery.” Discovery is the mechanism the parties...more

No Vaccine, No Parenting Time Part II – Vaccination Follow Up

Fox Rothschild LLP on 1/20/2022

I previously blogged on parenting time restrictions due to vaccination issues “No Vaccination, No Parenting Time“. The issue hasn’t gone away and it won’t for some time. The reality is that while the COVID-19 pandemic seems...more

Trial May Be Imminent – Are You Unhappy With Your Divorce Lawyer?

Fox Rothschild LLP on 1/19/2022

Even before COVID, in some counties, divorce trials were hard to come by due to backlogs and/or judicial shortages. Some counties ceased trials altogether for a time, even those trials that were underway. Then COVID...more

The New Year’s Resolution Divorce – 2022 Edition

Fox Rothschild LLP on 12/28/2021

For many divorce attorneys, the busy season starts after the first of the year. For the last several years, I have posted on the phenomenon of the New Year’s Resolution Divorce. For whatever reason, this post has struck a...more

No Vaccination, No Parenting Time

Fox Rothschild LLP on 10/22/2021

As I anticipated in a prior blog about general vaccinations, the hot topic is now how a COVID-19 vaccination status impacts parental rights. I recently gave a lecture about family law topics and COVID-19, during which I...more

There Is Such a Thing as a Good Divorce

Conyers on 9/17/2021

Few areas of our lives have been unaffected by the ripple effects of the pandemic and relationships are no exception. Health and financial worries are well-known stressors on any marriage, but COVID-19 restrictions also...more

VACCINATION WARS GO TO CUSTODY COURT

Fox Rothschild LLP on 9/1/2021

Mark R. Ashton (vaccinated)- This week both the Washington Post and the Chicago Sun-Times reported on a case in Chicago where a court decided whether a parent who was unvaccinated against COVID-19 could continue to visit...more

Vaccination Disputes Between Parents With Joint Legal Custody Are Guided By The Best Interests Of The Child

Fox Rothschild LLP on 7/1/2021

Vaccinations will likely become a hot topic in matters of divorced or separated parents in a post-pandemic world with vaccines now available to children ages 12 and up, and possible younger children in the future. Although...more

The Pundits Guessed & Seem To Have Guessed Wrong. No Sign That The Pandemic Accelerated Divorce.

Fox Rothschild LLP on 6/29/2021

Recall March of 2020. The country more or less stumbled into its first pandemic in a century and by the third week of March, Pennsylvania and its judicial system were essentially closed. For the next 10 weeks we were told...more

COVID Has Brought Your Marital Issues To A Head; Is A Collaborative Divorce Right For You?

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson PLLC on 5/18/2021

More and more couples are opting for a process called a “Collaborative divorce” when their marriage is at an end. At its core, Collaborative Divorce is a dispute resolution process that asks each party to determine his/her...more

Defining your Marital Lifestyle in Divorce Post-Pandemic: Longing for (or Moving on from) the Life that Once Was

Blank Rome LLP on 4/1/2021

In one of its hallmark songs, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band AC/DC proclaimed, “money talks.” For better or for worse, those two words find a way of ringing true in many facets of life, and contested divorce litigation...more

Divorce During COVID – Top 5 Issues To Watch

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson PLLC on 3/17/2021

We have all read the headlines that divorce rates are increasing worldwide and those rates are not expected to be dropping soon. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many of us to our limits. People are stressed out and locked...more

If You Want To Move Your Case To A Faster Conclusion, Consider Mediation And Arbitration

Fox Rothschild LLP on 3/12/2021

A lot of people believe that COVID has caused divorce cases to drag and the legal system to be ground to a halt – or at least, to lag behind. While that is certainly the case in some counties and more particularly, with some...more

Keeping Your Sanity during a COVID Custody Fight

Blank Rome LLP on 3/12/2021

As we mark one year since the first shelter-in-place orders were imposed, there is practically no part of divorce that the COVID-19 pandemic has not impacted. In too many ways, the frustration at our lack of control over the...more

Divorce During COVID – How We Have Adapted

Lowndes on 2/8/2021

Like almost everything else in life, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly altered the practice of family law. With court closures and social distancing measures, the court system, attorneys, and clients have turned to technology...more

COVID-19’s Impact On Child Support & Alimony Obligations – What We’ve Learned in 2020

Flaster Greenberg PC on 2/8/2021

We are coming up on the one-year anniversary of when COVID-19 first began causing significant disruption to families, including families with separated or divorced parents. Many people suffered job losses and income...more

Family Law Newsletter - January 2021

Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires &... on 1/20/2021

School Openings and Child Custody - We live in unpredictable times. Schools are opening, schools are closing. One week they’re using a hybrid model for learning, the next week it’s completely virtual — forcing us to be...more

The New Years Resolution Divorce

Fox Rothschild LLP on 12/28/2020