In the state of Washington, just like in many other states, there are laws in place to prevent one parent from taking his or her child and simply moving out of state or far away from the other parent. After all, it would be unfair to the noncustodial parent to allow the custodial parent to…
If you get divorced early in your child’s life, you are not likely to be thinking about how to pay for the child’s college education. Several years later, however, your child may be looking at attending college. As college tuition and related costs continue to skyrocket, resulting in unprecedented levels of student loan debt, you…
Custody cases are difficult for all parties involved, and particularly for children. Some parties are able to privately negotiate their own residential schedules, either on their own or with the help of a third-party mediator. When parties cannot reach a custody agreement, however, the judge must make a decision about what arrangements would be best…
Although family courts historically may have given preference to mothers in awarding child custody, times have changed significantly. For far too many years, most people, including family court judges, assumed that the mother should have custody of the child, and the father should pay child support and alimony to the mother. In today’s world, however,…
In the typical divorce, the spouses’ retirement plans, pensions, and mutual funds often may be the most valuable assets that they own. As a result, the division of these items of property in a divorce can be a hotly contested matter. Under Washington law, retirement funds that either spouse acquired during the marriage are the…
A restraining order is not the same as a civil domestic violence order for protection or a criminal no contact order. Rather, a restraining order is a broader court order that orders a specific person not to engage in a certain form of conduct or take certain actions. A restraining order may involve a number…
In divorce mediation, a neutral third party meets with the divorcing spouses and tries to help them reach an agreement about all of the different issues involved in their divorce. The spouses typically meet with the neutral third party, or mediator, at an agreed-upon time and place in order to work out any disputed issues.…
Spousal support, which is also referred to alimony or maintenance, is a sum of money that one spouse is ordered or agrees to pay the other spouse on a regular basis during and/or after their divorce. In some cases, the spouses purposely agree to make a spousal support obligation non-modifiable. This means that the spouse…
While legal separation and divorce share some similarities, there also are many differences. Probably the most important difference is the fact that a legal separation does not officially end a marriage or allow a spouse to remarry; only a divorce legally and permanently ends a marriage, allowing either spouse to remarry. If your goal is…