As of June 1, 2021, the United States has turned the corner of The COVID-19 pandemic. In the midst of the pandemic parents were reluctant to follow visitation orders that were in existance prior to the pandemic. Many parents utilized the Panemic to change or alter custody and access orders that the court previously determined were in the best interest of the child or children. If one parent denies the other parent access during his/her access period, the denial can result in a show cause which will force the other parent make-up time with the child/children. If it becomes necessary for the prior order to be modified it must be in writing and signed by both parents. Unfortunately, the pandemic has enabled one parent to utilize the pandemic as a means of allienating the child from the other parent. Parental Alienation is described as follows: In essence, parental alienation amounts to brainwashing the child, and it can be done both consciously and unconsciously.
An aligned parent who uses their child for their own emotional support and acts in ways to sabotage [*8] their child’s relationship with the other parent; an aligned parent who exaggerates, distorts, and redefines incidents as violence and abuse thus painting the rejecting parent as dangerous; a lack of a warm parent/child relationship prior to separation on the part of the rejected parent, a rigid parenting style on the part of the rejected parent, a prolonged separation between the child and the rejected parent, a high level of conflict between the parents and protracted custody litigation. Molina v. Molina, 2017 Md. App. LEXIS 10 (2017). During the COVID -19 pandemic, custodial parents sometimes improperly utilized the pandemic as a basis to deny access to the non-custodial parent. Now that things have gotten back to normal parents can no longer use COVID-19 as an excuse to deny visitation.
If you are in need of Legal Representation in a Divorce or Custody matter, Lynndolyn Mitchell is experienced in representing individuals in complex divorce,, custody and modification of custody matters.
www.lynnmitchell4law.com
