Marriage & Divorce during a pandemic

​There have been many articles published in the past few months that ilIustrate the toll that COVID has taken on families. I recently read an article in U.S. News titled "A Vaccine or This Marriage: Conspiracy Theories Are Tearing Couples Apart" by Jesselyn Cook. In it, one of the interviewed parties reported that her husband said, “If I take the vaccine I could pack my bags and leave his kids here.”

As a divorce attorney I have not heard this exact scenario, but it also did not surprise me. The COVID pandemic, and all that has come with, has caused a tremendous amount of stress in families, and many Americans are polarized about the vaccine. A marriage with a highly opinionated spouse that is convicted to a belief very easily could put a partner in a position whereby they have to choose whether or not they are equally convicted. This tension very well may lead to one spouse filing for divorce.

Over the years, I have seen the issue of whether or not to have a child vaccinated lead to litigation. In a divorced family in which the parents share joint legal decision-making authority, if the parents are not in agreement on whether or not to have the child vaccinated and both parents are strongly entrenched in their respective position, it is left the court to make that decision. The truth is that judges have different opinions on the necessity to vaccinate or not, and in Arizona, there is no standard, consistent response required by the court. One thing that is consistent is that disagreements like this often lead to high litigation costs that may or may not be seen as reasonable by the court. 

In a situation whereby one parent has sole legal decision-making authority, the court will decline to override that parent's choice, as there is a strong argument that making the decision infringes on that parent’s Constitutional right to parent. I only add this to highlight the fact that there is a very fine line between government intrusion into the parenting rights and the court having the right to make decisions regarding what is best for the child.

If you have a story that you are willing to share, I would love to hear how this pandemic has affected you and or your family.