The COVID-19 crisis has proven to be increasingly difficult for people under the best of circumstances. Throughout the crisis, and even during this period of increased openness, people have faced daily challenges like they have never experienced before. Job loss or salary reductions have exacerbated already strained home lives, while home schooling children added another layer of responsibility and stress previously unknown to couples. Currently, summer camps that are often relied upon for summer childcare are canceled or reduced giving no relief for work-from-home individuals or creating greater childcare expenses through the use of hourly help.

Whether it is the stress of this situation or the culmination of years of problems, there are couples experiencing further deterioration in their relationship and marriage and contemplating separation or divorce. Though the coronavirus creates a new lens through which separation and divorce are viewed, the reality is that being separated and under the same roof is not a novel or unusual situation. What has made it novel is that stay-at-home orders, social distancing and isolation have eliminated options for creating space from the other party or taking subtle steps to begin the process of separation or divorce—be they going to a friend’s house for a few days, going to a movie or coffee shop for a few hours to escape a tension-filled home or even having a confidential consultation in the privacy of an attorney’s office.