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, 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 can’t…
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,…
Child Support is a monthly sum of money that one parent is ordered to pay the other parent for the care and support of a child. All parents have a legal duty to support their children. Child support is intended to help meet a child’s basic needs, such as food, clothing, shelter, childcare, and medical care.…
Washington does provide for the annulment or a “decree of invalidity” of marriages in certain cases. Most people want an annulment because they regret having married their spouses, or if they believe that the marriage was a sham. Annulments are rare and involve asking the court to declare the marriage never legally happened. You may…
Whether you can remove your child from the state of Washington without the others parent’s knowledge depends on the court ordered parenting plan. If your plan says you have to have permission or give notice to travel to another state, then you have to ask permission. If the parenting plan doesn’t say anything regarding travel…