It has been a quick seven or so years since parent coordination was reintroduced by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. When it was brought back in its current iteration, it immediately provided an effective tool for a wide range of custody cases, but probably more acutely to those cases which exist on the border of litigation and mutual irritation: cases that need someone other than the parties to make a call, but don’t require a judge. I wrote about the “new version” of parenting coordination for the Legal Intelligencier in 2018 and I recently discussed how the effectiveness of the current version on the Law in the Family Podcast with two attorneys who handle parent coordination, Elizabeth Early, Esquire and David Melchiorre, Esquire.
Parent coordinators are typically appointed for a year at the cost of the parties. The court order appointing them outlines the scope of their authority and the coordinators themselves will have their preferred procedure for dealing with issues. While some parties may shy away from having another lawyer they have to pay, the reality is whether the parties have lawyers or represent themselves they will likely save money and, possibly more importantly, time by having a parent coordinator in place. Consider the fact that taking every issue to court not only may cost someone legal fees, but it also means lost wages due to taking off half day or an entire day, as well as costs related to childcare or other considerations.
It is an effective tool for many cases and worth investigating.
#parentcoordination #parentingcoordinator #highconflictcustody