Justice Matthew Cooper sitting in Supreme Court in New York County recently had a case before him involving an issue of parental access for a non-vaccinated Father. There was a pending divorce case. The Mother had custody of the parties child. The Father had supervised parenting time. The Mother insisted the supervisor be vaccinated and he or she would need to submit to a test for each access period with the child to see if the supervisor had Covid-19.

Fathers Parenting Time Suspended Until He Was Vaccinated

Justice Cooper had granted the Mother a temporary restraining order which suspended the Father’s parenting time with the child until he submitted himself to be vaccinated. Justice Cooper rendered the decision based on it was not in the child’s best interest for the child to be with his Father while the Father was unvaccinated. The child at this point was too young to receive a vaccination for Covid-19.

The child’s preschool required any parent participating in pick-ups or drop-offs or all other school activities to be vaccinated. The Father had taken the position that he refused to be vaccinated. Justice Cooper found the Father’s arguments against vaccination did not support the child’s best interest. In the alternative, Justice Cooper offered the Father to submit to regular Covid-19 testing, but the Father refused.

The Mother’s application to suspend the Fathers parental access to the parties child was granted until he complied with Justice Cooper’s temporary restraining order which restrained him from spending time with his child until such time as he was vaccinated.

u>Mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for parents with children is a new issue that has not been previously dealt with in the courts in New York.

Elliot S. Schlissel, Esq. is a divorce lawyer representing men and women throughout the Metropolitan New York area. He can be reached at Elliot@sdnylaw.com or 800-344-6431.