The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted many things during the past 14 months, especially in regards to travelling and leaving home. This has greatly impacted and caused distress for parents who do not both live in either the US or Canada.
In good news, there has been a new legislation that came into place towards the end of last year, done by the Federal Government of Canada called, “Orders and Council”. This legislation has actually allowed parents to be able to cross the US/ Canada border in order to have access to parenting time with their children. This would only be in the case that one parent lives on one side of the border and the other lives on the other.
As long as there is a written agreement or court order in place that states there’s parenting or access for each parent, the parents are able to cross the border with the children without having to do a 14 day quarantine and without having to take the COVID-19 test.
There are certain restrictions that apply to this legislation in regards to where a parent can go when crossing the border. For example, on a school day, the parent could cross the border and drive the children to the school and be allowed to walk the child to the school front door. After this, they'd have to go straight back to their car and then immediately straight back across the border.
With this new change, it has opened up more opportunities for parents with parenting agreements. While it may have its challenges, it is a positive step in order to give the children the most parenting time with each parent.
Byron McCarthy is one of CBM's Associates who specializes in Family Law. Reach out to Byron or a member of our team to learn how we can help you. Contact us today.
