Divorce Basics After Coronavirus
It’s a year into the pandemic and our Texas divorces are moving through the new technological Texas court procedures pretty smoothly. There are some differences and new tools to learn, but it works well. In my experience, some of the changes work better than the systems Texas divorces had available before Covid-19.
We are also discovering that some of the technology and tools that we’ve been using are divorce tools we want to keep after the restrictions are removed. I’ve got a few tips for divorce after the pandemic moving forward using these tools.
Zoom Texas Divorce
Zoom is here to stay for Texas divorce. Our Denton County courts jumped in and gave direction to all of us working on divorces as soon as they could, and my Spring 2020 divorce cases didn’t experience any delays due to their willingness to be cutting edge.are going to continue with Zoom divorce hearings in one way or another depending on the specific judge and court. It’s reported that more than 2000 Texas judges used Zoom for virtual court since last year at this time. Texas was the first state to have virtual oral arguments before the Supreme Court, and a virtual jury trial as well. Our Denton County Judges have been able to tailor their technology with the needs of their caseloads and public health and want to keep some of the new normal. Denton County agreed divorces will likely see continued electronic submission of their final documents for concluding the divorce.
Zoom Court
Remember that if you’re involved in a Zoom divorce hearing or a Zoom divorce trial that you should dress and act as if you were going to be in the courtroom. Zoom court impressions matter. If you don’t know how to dress for court, see my post here and talk with your divorce attorney before your divorce hearing or divorce trial. If you’ve never been in a hearing (and most people haven’t) talk with your divorce lawyer about what not to do in a divorce hearing. For example, in a Zoom court appearance here are a few ‘don’ts’: don’t use your phone, don’t talk to people around you, don’t eat, don’t listen to music, don’t watch t.v., if you need to drink something it should be water or something non-alcoholic and not distracting. Please do these for any Zoom divorce appearance: be fully dressed in go to work in an office or church type of clothes, be sober, be respectful, make sure your name on Zoom is correct and respectful, be on time to the scheduled Zoom hearing.
Zoom Divorce Consultations
Zoom divorce consultations are likely to stay as well. I can’t speak for all attorneys, but I can say confidently that I will still use Zoom consultations for divorce and family law. I will also continue to offer Zoom meetings for my clients to discuss divorce strategy, divorce planning and other divorce issues that are better with a meeting than a phone call. The time saved by not having to navigate DFW traffic to get to a consultation with a divorce attorney during the workday is important. My office went virtual before coronavirus made everybody virtual and so I was lucky that I’d already partly made that transition to the virtual world. I wasn’t setting divorce consultations for Zoom yet though. But, I don’t see going back to only in-person consultations. I’ve talked with so many people who needed to meet with a divorce attorney who couldn’t take time off work to drive to a consultation during the workday or who travel for work to limit divorce consultations to the office. If you’ve got a consultation using Zoom with a divorce lawyer, I’ve got information to help you make that consultation the best it can be in another blog post and a video on the website.
The new technology and Zoom are here to stay in Texas divorces.
Call today if you’d like to schedule a divorce consultation, discuss Texas divorce, Texas divorce mediation, flat fees for Texas divorce or meet with a Texas divorce attorney. Call 972-203-6644 or 940-497-5454 and we’ll get you on the calendar.