Since COVID-19, American work culture has significantly shifted to embrace remote work. Dozens of variations exist, from complete remote employment to occasional flextime opportunities.
We are frequently asked if a change to remote work will permit a litigant to modify their custody or parenting plan. While each case is unique, and broad generalizations are often inaccurate, any change or modification to an existing custody or parenting plan is typically quite complex and does not turn on a single alteration or event. Rather, the Court is required to review an extensive list of factors in our custody statute, which in fact was recently revised to enhance the voice of the children in custody and parenting time disputes. In simple English, the mere fact that a party is now working in some form of a remote-work situation does not automatically result in a change to custody or parenting plans.
The other misbelief is that remote work means extra free time to care for children. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Try handing a complicated job remotely with a two-year-old child cavorting about the house. If you work, you are expected to work and not interrupt your obligations every fifteen minutes or two hours to shift to parenting responsibilities. The fuss about remote work creating opportunities to change custody or visitation is truly a “Tempest in a Teapot.”
Having said this, a litigant can attempt to engage the other party and attempt to modify a custody or parenting schedule for any reason, but when push comes to shove, the mere transition to some form of remote work will normally not result in a change to custody or parenting time.