Articles Posted in Child Support, Parenting Plans

The rules of evidence can be important in any court case, even in a Washington custody case.  A mother recently challenged a custody modification that gave the father primary residential custody on the grounds certain evidence should have been excluded at trial.

The children had been living with their mother and her husband in Germany.  While they were in Washington for several weeks visiting their father, he petitioned to become the custodial parent.  He alleged abuse in the mother’s home was harmful to the children’s physical, mental, and emotional health.

According to the court’s opinion, the father took the children to the doctor after they told him about abuse, and they were referred to a counselor.  The counselor testified the children told her about several incidents of abuse and violence at their mother’s home.  She said those statements helped her diagnose and treat them.  She diagnosed all three children with adjustment disorder with anxiety and dysthymia, and one of them with depression.

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Custody issues can get complicated when one parent wants to move.  There is a presumption that relocation by the custodial parent will be permitted, but the non-custodial parent has the right to object.  Things are not so straightforward, however, when the parents share custody equally.

A father recently appealed a court’s denial of relocation where the parents shared custody.  The couple divorced in 2012.  The child resided with the mother the majority of the time until 2016.  In 2016, the court approved an agreed-upon parenting plan that split residential time equally on a 50/50 basis.  The designated both parents as having “equal rights and responsibilities…”

The plan also provided that either parent who planned to move would give notice to anyone entitled to court ordered time with the child.  The father filed a notice in April, 2017, stating his intent to move with the child.  His current wife was entering a five-year residency in emergency medicine and pediatrics in Baltimore, and he planned to join her there.

Child support can be a very contentious issue.  When parents share residential time equally, one parent may feel that he or she should not be responsible for child support.  Under Washington family law, however, a court does not have to offset one parent’s basic child support obligation against the other parent’s basic child support obligation when they share residential time equally.

The father in a recent case appealed a child support order, arguing the court had failed to apportion the child support between both parents.  The parties had previously been married and had two minor children together.  They shared equal residential time. The original child support order required the father to pay $1,449.36 monthly.

The father petitioned to modify the child support after his company went out of business.  The parties entered a written stipulation to suspend the child support payments, but the mother reserved the right to seek back support from the time of the suspension.

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Tax issues can be a significant hindrance in Washington divorce cases.  Couples may fight over who claims the tax exemption for the children, who declares the children as dependents, and the effect of any tax credits related to the children.  In a recent case, a husband challenged the child support order due to several tax issues.  He also challenged the asset distribution.

According to the court’s opinion, the couple had four children together.  They separated in March 2015 and the wife obtained a domestic violence protection order. The husband moved out of the home.  The husband stopped paying the mortgage in August and the home went into foreclosure.  The wife learned that the husband arranged a short sale.  After the wife and children moved out, the husband took the house off the market and moved back in.

The trial court awarded the house to both spouses “as tenants in common for sale” and ordered them to list the house for sale within 90 days.  The trial court set the child support payment at $723.46.  The trial court found the husband did not have sufficient means to pay spousal support and meet his own needs.  The court also ordered the husband to pay half the wife’s attorney fees.  The husband appealed.

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In a Washington divorce, parents generally cannot escape child support obligations by being voluntarily underemployed.  If the court finds the parent is underemployed for the purpose of reducing the child support obligation, the court can calculate child support based on imputed income.  A Washington court recently considered whether a father was subject to imputed income because he stopped working overtime after the separation.

In her motion for child support, the wife alleged the husband was voluntarily underemployed.  The trial court entered a child support order, imputing income to the husband based on past earnings.  The husband appealed.

The husband argued the court erred in finding him voluntarily underemployed and in imputing his income. The husband owns and operates a commercial harvest diving business. He previously owned and operated as many as four commercial dive boats and worked as boat captain and diver until about six months before the separation.  He stated he had previously worked over 80 hours per week and worked out of town for weeks at a time.  He claimed he had been able to work so much during the marriage because the wife had been a stay-at-home mother and homemaker.  He argued he was unable to maintain that schedule and care for his children on the shared schedule.  His salary dropped from $146,884 in 2015 to $93,094 in 2016.

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Sometimes in a Washington child support case, a parent may seek credit for expenses during their residential time or a modification of the custody arrangement in an effort to reduce child support payments.  However, the parent must show adequate cause to modify the parenting plan to change the custody arrangement.  A Washington appeals court recently considered a husband’s efforts to reduce his child support obligation.

The parties divorced after approximately 11 years of marriage.  The agreed parenting plan allowed equal residential time with the two children, and other agreed orders required the husband to pay $1,700 in child support and $900 in maintenance each month.

In 2012, the husband moved to adjust child support due to the child care expenses he paid while he had the kids.  The court denied the motion, noting a residential credit could not be considered in a motion for adjustment but should instead be raised in a petition to modify.  A couple of months later, the husband filed a petition to modify the child support.  The court found he failed to demonstrate a substantial change in circumstances and denied the petition.  It also awarded the wife attorney’s fees and costs.

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Under Washington child custody law, there is a rebuttable presumption in favor of granting a parent’s request for relocation.  To deny a relocation, the trial court must find that its detrimental effect would outweigh the benefits to the child and the parent seeking relocation.  RCW 26.09.520 sets forth 11 factors to be considered by the court.

In a recent case, a mother appealed a trial court’s denial of her request to relocate and its modification naming the father as the primary residential parent.  The agreed parenting plan had named the mother as the primary residential parent and allowed the father residential time on Wednesday evenings and every other weekend.  The parents lived within 7.6 miles of each other.

The mother subsequently filed a Child Relocation Act petition.  The husband responded by seeking primary residential placement.  The trial court granted the mother a temporary relocation order, and the mother and children moved about 30 miles away from the father.

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