Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Parenting Plans/Time-Sharing Agreements: What You Need to Know

BRODZKI JACOBS

www.bjblawyers.com

LEGALLY SPEAKING Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Parenting Plans/ Time-Sharing Agreements: What You Need to Know

BY NANCY K. BRODZKI, ESQ.

The COVID-19 virus took the world by storm and has unexpectedly worked its way into our everyday lives, creating new challenges for co-parenting families. This article will discuss some hurdles many families are facing and how to overcome them. With schools being closed for the foreseeable future, public gatherings being restricted, and many people losing employment, parents must co-parent effectively in times of disruption without violating Court orders. The rapid onset of restrictions and recommendations regarding the pandemic is especially troubling for parents whose children travel between two households. This crisis is affecting everything, from daily decision-making for the children, to time sharing schedules, to ability to pay child support. Now more than ever, it is important for parents to communicate effectively and cooperate with each other in order to maximize the best interests of the children.

So what should you do if disagreements regarding the children arise? Parents should always adhere to the current Court order set in place, but also be flexible and reasonable when working out time-sharing and exchange changes with the other parent. Parents must also use common sense and must not endanger the health and safety of their children. Parents who have tested positive for COVID-19 or who have been exposed to someone with the virus are in no position to demand the time-sharing schedule be followed. Judges have made it clear that they will put the health of children first. Many jurisdictions, including the tri-county area of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, are under a shelter-in-place order with few exceptions. This does not mean that your children should not be exchanged between local households. But it does mean that children are not going to be put on airplanes or trains to travel to a distant parent. Make-up time-sharing should be offered to any parent missing out on time with their children because of this pandemic.

If the children are out of school and it is “your day” per the parenting plan, it is your responsibility to arrange for childcare or e-schooling. Until there is a Final Judgment of Modification entered by the Court, the regular parenting plan schedule applies, and you should always default to that schedule if you cannot agree to alternate arrangements. While all parents should follow the CDC, local and state guidelines regarding protecting your health and the health of your children, it is important to note and accept that you cannot control the other parent and force them to abide by the rules being followed in your household. It is important to have open, reasonable and respectful discussions with the other parent, always remembering that any action taken today will likely have consequences tomorrow. Communicating with the other parent, coordinating your schedules, adjusting pick up times or places, and working together to adjust to the changes in your routine is the best way to do the right thing for your child and stay out of Court. Communication, flexibility, compromise, and a united motive to act in the best interest of your child is the key to avoiding unnecessary conflict.

If all attempts at respectful communication and amicable agreements fail, there are still legal routes to pursue. Motions to enforce or modify the parenting plan can be filed. Substantial changes in circumstances, such as loss of employment, can trigger the need to modify your parenting plan and/or child support. This is all uncharted legal territory and only time will tell how Courts will decide these issues moving forward, but Brodzki Jacobs is here to give expert advice and guide you through these challenging times. Uncertainty around COVID-19 is unsettling but our team is up and running with our extensive use of technology and 100% ready to serve you and your legal needs.

SCHOOL NEWS Broward Middle & High School Students Honored in Annual Holocaust Reflection Contest

BY: TERRY JAILLET

Local students were celebrated by The Holocaust Documentation & Education Center (HDEC) in this year’s Olga & Eugene Guttman Visual Arts & Writing Contest. The contest was open to fourth through twelfth graders and included submissions from students at schools across South Florida.

In addition to its annual contest, the HDEC offers educational and outreach programs through its Student Awareness Days and Teacher Institutes. These programs focus on the history and lessons of the Holocaust as well as the dangers that hatred, rac- ism, and bullying pose today.

The HDEC contains a collection of photographs, documents, and artifacts organized in a manner that documents and educates to convey the mes- sage of NEVER AGAIN. It also contains the world’s largest self-produced collection of oral histories from Holocaust survivors. There are more than 2,500 interviews with survivors, liberators, and eyewitnesses. Its recently built museum in Dania Beach is slowly beginning open following the COVID19 shutdown.

The annual contest asks students to submit artwork and writing pieces based on a particular theme. This year’s theme was “Why Holocaust Survivors Are Our Heroes.”

The overall winner of the Art contest was Flanagan High School junior Ashley Philips’ captivating drawing of two prisoner’s hands.

“I drew two concentration camp prisoners grabbing each other’s arms to show the importance of unity in their survival,” remarked Philips of her work, “I intended to show that Holocaust survivors are heroes because, despite the terrible situation they were put in, they stuck together and fought against

the oppression.”

This year, students faced the added obstacle of COVID-19 and, despite the fact that their schools shut down, all the students and teachers still made the deadline and did everything they could to participate in the contests.

“With everything taking place in the world right now, it was truly inspiring to see this generation have a real understanding of compassion, empathy and kindness.” said HDEC President Rositta E. Kenigsberg. “Thank you to all the devoted teachers who continued to encourage your students to stand up and speak out.”

Winners were awarded in various categories, including: Olga & Eugene Guttman Art 1st Place High School Division Ashley Dawkins Contest Winners The Holocaust Documentation & Education Center (HDEC) was ▸ Overall Art Winner - Ashley Philips, Grade 11, founded in 1980 as a nonsectarian, nonprofit, multifaceted orga

Charles W. Flanagan High School nization, to document, preserve and protect the authentic memory ▸ 1st Place High School Division - Ashley Dawkins, of the Holocaust through eye-witness accounts from Survivors

Grade 12 Charles W. Flanagan High School and Liberators; and to provide educational outreach programming ▸ 1st Place Elementary School Division - Beau Belle, for teachers and students. Its vision has expanded to utilizing the Grade 4, Everglades Elementary School Olga & Eugene Guttman Writing Contest Winners Holocaust through thought-provoking multi-lingual exhibitions and insightful programming to educate people in all walks of life of the ▸ Overall Winner, Writing - “Reflections of the catastrophic ramifications of prejudice, racism, stereotyping and

Past” by, Rosabel Cepero, Grade 10, TERRA bullying, which tragically still occur today. Using cutting-edge tech

Environmental Research Institute nology such as interactive media and 3-D holograms, the Museum ▸ 1st Place Winner, High School Division - “Our will put names and faces to the victims, raising the sound of their

Heroes” by Jeshua Osorio, Grade 9, Barbara moral voices of conscience to mute the noise of prejudice and

Goleman Senior High School hatred. The Museum’s artifacts include an authenticated Holocaust ▸ 1st Place Winner, Elementary School Division Railcar and a U.S. Army M-4A3E8 Sherman Tank, as well as oral - “Holocaust Essay” by Collin Theberge, Grade 5, history interviews, photographs, documents, journals, books, videos,

Sandpiper Elementary School and other priceless items from the HDEC Collection.