There are a wide variety of retirement plans, from pensions to 401(k) plans, but all of them are potentially subject to division as community property in a Washington divorce. Even if one spouse contributed to or accrued a portion of the plan’s value prior to the marriage it may be part of the overall division…
There is a lot of misinformation among the general public about divorce. Part of our job here at Pacific Northwest Family Law is to educate individuals on their rights and responsibilities with respect to divorce, as well as tell them how the divorce process really works. Here are some common misconceptions about Washington divorce law…
Spousal support, maintenance, and alimony are terms used to describe a court order for one spouse to pay a certain sum of money to the other spouse on a routine basis. A spousal support order can be temporary in duration, in that it lasts only as long as the divorce proceedings are pending. A spousal…
In any type of lawsuit, Washington law requires that all parties receive proper notice of the court proceedings. There are strict rules that govern what constitutes proper notice, or “service of process.” Service gives your spouse the opportunity to respond to your divorce petition within a certain timeframe. If you do not comply with these…
Spousal support (also known as spousal maintenance or alimony) is a court order that requires one spouse to pay the other spouse a certain amount of money each month for his or her support. Whether a court orders spousal support depends largely on the paying spouse’s ability to pay and the receiving spouse’s need for…
In every divorce, there is a division of property and one of their most valuable assets may be a spouse’s pension or retirement account. Federal law, however, protects retirement accounts from the division between spouses partly because the federal government wants to make sure all taxes are collected. To ensure Uncle Sam isn’t cheated, most retirement accounts require a…
There are two basic ways that you can establish paternity in the state of Washington. Parents of a child who are unmarried can sign an Affidavit of Paternity, which is a document that legally establishes paternity for the child under Washington law. The Affidavit is sent to the Washington State Department of Health, which then adds the…
The ability to make significant decisions about the child is typically is defined by the parenting plan. Significant decisions include education, non-emergency medical decisions, and religious upbringing. You can add others to the list, but Washington law requires that all parenting plans have a specific provision dealing with these three. That means, if the parents…
Mediation is a means of resolving all issues related to the parties’ divorce by agreement. It is an alternative to going to trial to resolve disputed claims. Most courts in Washington require the parties to mediate before going to trial, so you need to know what to expect and how to prepare. In divorce mediation, a mediator,…