Covid-19 Affects The Open Status of Oklahoma Courts.
Video Transcribed: How will the COVID-19 pandemic impacts grandparents’ rights case. Hi, I’m Tulsa attorney, Justin Mosteller with grandparents.attorney and I’m going to answer that question for you today.
We’ve all been inundated with COVID-19 stories in the news lately, and maybe you’ve been paying attention. I’ve seen that the Tulsa court system, along with other court systems in Oklahoma, has been put into a bit of a tailspin. Right now, cases are slated to begin again sometime in May.
Officially, I believe the Supreme court has suspended jury terms through May 15th, which gives us some idea that in middle to the end of May is approximately the timeframe when the court system will open back up for regular business.
In the meantime, the only cases that are being heard by the court are emergencies. Unfortunately, grandparents’ rights cases typically are not going to qualify as an emergency situation.
The exception to that is going to be, if you believe that your grandchild is an imminent risk of harm from abuse or neglect, in which case you can reach out to an Oklahoma attorney and ask about a guardianship, which is not a typical grandparent’s rights case, but is actually a situation where the grandparent is trying to acquire custody of the child to protect them from that imminent harm.
For regular grandparent’s rights cases, where a grandparent has been denied contact with the child because one of the one of the parents has decided to deny that contact, those cases are going to be put on hold for a while.
As I said, we’re probably looking at May 15th as approximately when we’ll be able to get back into court for those issues.
But in the meantime, there is a lot that we can do. We can file cases, court clerks across the country are still taking pleadings. We can prepare for a case, so that we’re going to be ready to go as soon as the court systems are normalized. But the main idea is, be ready for whatever happens.
In the meantime, maintain contact with those grandchildren as best as you can, take every opportunity for visitation. You’re going to want to maintain contact with that child, so that when the court systems come back to life, you are in a good position to assert a claim for grandparent visitation.
If you have any questions about grandparent’s rights during the COVID-19 pandemic, be sure to give us a call. Our number is (918) 994-3323, and I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks.