COVID-19 | Family Law Attorney in Houston, TX

Hello! Good Afternoon. This is Daniel Ogbeide from the law office of Bryan Fagan. I’m a family law attorney here and have been working here for over a year and a half. SO today we’re going to talk about the topic that is affecting everybody around the globe which is COVID-19. Today, I’m not going to be talking to you about the diagnosis and all that because I’m not a medical doctor. However as an attorney, parents have been asking what is the impact of Coronavirus on spring break? So if you have the standard Texas possession order, it says, a particular parent has the child from when school is dismissed, or a day before school resumes, or actually on the day school resume from spring break. So now here is the problem. Most schools are on spring breaks right now. And some schools were supposed to actually resume for spring break today. But there is no school because of the Coronavirus. So does it mean, you get to keep the child until this pandemic is over? And the simple answer is no. So in a situation like this, where the law does not cover the return of the child, you will follow the school schedule. Don’t forget, the school calendar was made like a year ago. In that school calendar, there was no provision for COVID-19 virus. So you are still to follow the school calendar. So if you were supposed to return the child to school today so that the other parent can resume their possession. Or if you’re supposed to return the child next week, in case your school follows next week’s calendar, you have to follow the initial school calendar and return the child to the other parent. And this is this makes sense in the sense that we don’t know when this Coronavirus epidemic is going to be over. Even some school districts like in the state of New York and Texas Education Department actually stated today that they are not sure if the student will be able to return to school this school year. So in the interest of being civil to the other parent, it will be a great idea to let them know where you will be, so that they can pick up the child from you as opposed to from school. If you have any questions, or you need more information on any family law related issues, please visit our website at www.bryanfagan.com. Thank you.