What The COVID-19 Virus Has Already Taught Us About Divorce
The Coronavirus Just Might Change Our Legal System
Corridors bustling with attorneys, divorcing husbands and wives and crowded court rooms has always been the dreaded final step for amicable couples seeking an uncontested divorce. Appearing for a divorce hearing has also meant time off from work, lost wages, and additional stress. When the COVID-19 virus brought Rhode Island to a halt, our legal system and it’s hundreds of scheduled hearings were no exception. With calendars full, family court needed a solution and scrambled to keep cases moving to avoid a backlog that could delay divorces and other court business for months.
After two months of a stay at home order, Rhode Island now begins its slow reopening. Social distancing is here to stay – at least for a while – and that means notable changes for how the family court operates. The COVID-19 virus has forced this change because everything about our lives has changed. Those crowded corridors, courtrooms and conducting business as usual is not as safe as it used to be. And as we have learned to be creative and remain efficient in how we work, attend meetings, and conduct business, family court has had to meet this challenge as well.
Divorce By Video Conference?
Having overcome a number of logistical problems and legal hurdles, uncontested divorce hearings are now conducted using video conferencing, an unprecedented shift in the way the family court system here in Rhode Island has worked for decades. At such an early stage in this novel approach, it is difficult to speculate whether this will permanently change the way the court conducts divorce proceedings once the pandemic is over, but perhaps it should. While video conferencing helps prevent the spread of the disease, it also streamlines uncontested divorces and eliminates crowded court rooms, and the changes the court has been forced to make demonstrates that we can improve and modernize parts of our legal system.
This may be new and unfamiliar in Rhode Island, but in other states (California, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and Washington State) couples do not attend divorce hearings unless their settlement includes a significant deviation from child support guidelines; or child access is being denied to either parent; or there is an unequal division of property or assets causing hardship to one spouse; or the mandatory paperwork was not filed in a timely manner. In other states (Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming) actual divorce hearings only occur if certain factors exist that require procedural or judicial oversight.
Regardless of the ultimate effect of the COVID-19 virus on society at large, to its credit, Rhode Island’s family court system has changed its process for uncontested divorce hearings and proven that positive change is possible. And although we may still be lagging behind compared to the way more than two-thirds of American states handle uncontested divorce cases, I feel the court’s recent change should be a permanent step in modernizing our system away from stressful, in-person hearings for divorce proceedings in uncontested cases. If, when the COVID-19 virus threat is behind us, we revert to the old ways it will be a lost opportunity and signify denial of a long overdue and much needed change to the divorce process here in Rhode Island and elsewhere.
