Are Connecticut Courts Still Open During COVID-19?
While we all try to keep ourselves healthy and safe during the coronavirus pandemic, people with divorce and family law issues have an additional question: are Connecticut Courts still open during COVID-19 self-quarantine?
The short answer from the Judicial Branch: “the courts of the State of Connecticut are open and will remain open.”
But in order to ensure the safety of the public, judges, court staff, attorneys, and everyone who uses courthouses, there aren’t hearings – that’s when you go before a judge so that a judge can hear evidence and make a ruling – except in cases of an emergency.
So, what’s a family law emergency?
In the divorce and family law context, think about physical and emotional safety – only things like emergency custody or emergency restraining order cases will be assigned hearings.
As a practical matter, what does this mean?
It means that we can do almost everything we used to do in Court other than get in front of a judge for a hearing. So, we are still filing new divorces and motions in existing cases, and, of course, negotiating.
As things change we will be at the forefront of those updates. Our Attorneys Kristen Marcroft and Meghan Freed are on the special Connecticut Bar Association committee where divorce and family lawyers provide the judicial branch information on our clients’ most pressing needs. As the court status changes, we will be on top of it.
For more, please take a look at this video our divorce and family law attorneys put together about what reductions in court services mean for your case.
How Is Freed Marcroft Moving People Forward Despite Court Delays?
- Freed Marcroft is open. Our entire team has been working remotely since March 16, 2020, for the safety of our clients, staff, and community.
- Each and every Freed Marcroft team member had a laptop and the appropriate technology to work remotely prior to COVID-19 and self-quarantine, so although self-quarantine is an unprecedented situation, we have years of experience helping you not only wherever you are, but also wherever we are. (And we have the security and data practices in place to help protect your confidential client information.)
- We designed a Legal Rx to assist you with any issues that arise due to the impact of Coronavirus, including parenting schedules, parenting decisions, and financial changes.
- Much of the nuts and bolts of how we help divorce and family law clients move forward — such as drafting and filing motions and agreements, negotiating with opposing counsel — always happened out of court.
- Virtual Mediations, which we have used for years to assist clients located out of state and internationally, are helping mediation clients continue to meet and reach resolutions safely during self-quarantine.
- Click here for a video with Freed Marcroft Attorneys or more about Virtual Mediation during coronavirus.
- We are conducting client meetings and collaborative divorces virtually both via video and phone conferencing.
- We are filing new divorces and Post Judgment cases such as Motions to Modify and Motions for Contempt.
- Retired judges have made themselves available virtually
Next Steps
The divorce and family law legal team at Freed Marcroft can give you individualized guidance based upon goals and the circumstances of your particular situation. If you are interested in learning about Coronavirus and divorce more generally, please check out our COVID-19 resource page.
Freed Marcroft’s first step, the Goals & Planning Conference is designed to get to the heart of your problem and unveil your true goals for your life. Once we discover your goals for your life at the Goals and Planning Conference, we are able to take all of our collective experience with divorce, law, the available ways to divorce, strategy, courts, judges, and other lawyers, and build a divorce, separation, or annulment customized for you.
