Coronavirus: How to cope as divorced parents during the UK lockdown

25 March 2020, 21:34

Family lawyer tells LBC the best advice for divorced parents during the UK coronavirus lockdown.

Family lawyer Victoria Walker acknowledged that the advice for divorced parents from the government has been "a bit of a shambles."

Ms Walker said that government guidance is that children under 18 can be moved between parent homes, although it seems to change "almost hourly."

She reflected that most people who are separated are in "fairly acrimonious situations" at the best of times but at a time of crisis that gets worse. Ms Walker gave the example of a woman who is in the high risk category and fears her ex-husband won't adhere to the government guidelines and keep the children safe.

"The parents need to try and talk, reach an agreement and what they should do with their children. If however they cannot reach an agreement, then the parents are at liberty to do what they think they should do to be."

Iain said that surely everyone should use common sense to decide how to parent their children.

Ms Walker countered that people come at this from an emotional lens and have to negotiate with someone they have a lot of history with so sometimes struggle to see situations with objectivity and common sense.

"Our primary objective as family lawyers is to think about what's best for the children so quite often the parents come at it from their own agenda or try to point store, but yes absolutely it's common sense."