How to Deal with Children During a Court Proceeding

Most civil courts prefer that children are not inside the courtroom during a proceeding. In court, "children" means people under the age of majority. Of course, criminal courts allow it because many of the accused are under the age of majority. Here are a few suggestions on what to do with your children while you are in civil trial.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Get a babysitter and plan on that person caring for your child for the entire day. No court is predictable and no one can know how long you will wait in the courtroom for your matter to be called, or how long your matter will take. So, you need to plan on being at court for the day, even though you could be finished much earlier.
2. If it is necessary to bring your child, such as a mother who is a party or witness and is nursing a new baby, then that mother should wait outside the courtroom until she is called and have someone to care for the child while she is in the courtroom.
3. Toddlers should be cared for outside the courtroom by a caregiver if it is absolutely unpreventable to leave them at home or at a sitter’s home.
4. If your child will be waiting outside the courtroom for you, then make sure you instruct the caregiver to keep your child quiet and controlled as loud noises can be distracting for other ongoing trials.

Tips & Warnings

• Since trials can be long and somewhat unexciting for children, they tend to get whiny or noisy and that distraction can create added tension inside the courtroom. Therefore, it is better to leave them at home so that the parents can focus all their attention on the legal matters at hand.