Family Law

Special Considerations for Special Kids

August 1, 2014 | by Blair & Kim, PLLC

We all know (and probably love) a child that does not have typical abilities, or who struggles with certain areas of life. These kids face challenges that typical children do not and as such have different needs. Working in the field of family law it is important to consider the specific needs of children that have special needs. In most instances, families with a special needs child will need a parenting plan that addresses that child’s special needs. They also may need an order of child support that is able to deal with the child’s special expenses. Here are 3 things parents with a special needs child may want to consider while facing a family law case involving that child:

Special Expenses: Does your child have special needs that may cause additional expenses outside of the normal cost of raising a child? Perhaps this relates to their medical needs, their occupational therapy, or increased costs of retrofitting equipment or clothing. These additional expenses should be discussed with your family law attorney. RCW 26.19.075 allows the court to grant a deviation to the standard child support level for high expenses related to the special needs of a disabled child. RCW 26.19.075(1)(c)(iii).
Parenting Plan: In addition to speaking with a family law attorney, unmarried or divorcing parents who are creating a parenting plan should consider speaking with someone who has expertise dealing with children with their child’s specific special needs. That expert may advise parents on the best way to help the child transition or thrive in a two-parent household. If the court is asked to rule on the residential schedule of a child, the court will consider the developmental level and emotional needs of the child. RCW 26.09.187
Long-Term Financial Support: In some circumstances, a special needs child will continue to have special expenses after the child has reached adulthood. If you have a special needs child who is nearing adulthood, it is important to speak with your family law attorney about whether you may continue to collect child support from the other party if your adult child will continue to need care.

If you have a special needs child, it is important that you make your attorney aware of that child’s abilities and special needs and expenses they may have. Your family law attorney can advise you on the proper way to ensure that your order of child support and parenting plan address your child’s special needs. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this or any other family law issue with a Seattle family law attorney.

Relocation

July 9, 2014 | by Blair & Kim, PLLC

We live in a world where people’s careers often require them to move to find work or allow their career room to grow. We also live in a world where many families are dealing with parenting plans and raising children in two separate households. Relocation actions are what happens when these two realities intersect.

Upon receiving a notice of relocation, non-primary parents are often shocked, hurt, and confused. Below please find a few notes about the relocation process. This is by no means a substitution for legal advice or a complete summary of the laws and procedures regarding relocations in Washington.

In relocation cases, timing is very important. Most of the time, notice should be provided by the moving primary parent to the non-primary parent sixty days in advance of the proposed move. RCW 26.09.440(1)(b)(i). After receiving notice of intent to relocate, a person has only thirty days to file an objection with the court. RCW 26.09.500. The objection is made by filing a form with the court (this is not the only way to provide notice of your objection, but it is the most common and perhaps most clear objection). If you do not object within thirty days, the move will be permitted by the court.

Children’s Personal Items – 3 Considerations

June 25, 2014 | by Blair & Kim, PLLC

When parents of minor children end their relationship, there are often questions regarding who gets to keep the children’s belongings. This issue is usually addressed during mediation or litigation, and resolved in the divorce decree. When it comes to the children’s bedroom furniture, it is often ordered that the kids keep their furniture at the home they will be spending the majority of their time. For more portable items, there may not be any mention of them in the decree, so parents have to figure these issues out on their own. Parents should consider the following:

For special items like teddy bears and other comfort items, it is often best to allow the child to bring the items with the child from house to house. This can make the transition easier, and give the child some consistency.
For clothes and hygiene items (toothbrushes, hairbrushes, etc.) it is best to have items at both houses. This avoids the risk that the child leaves the necessary items at the other parent’s home. We’ve had clients that even have coats waiting in the car so the child doesn’t bring his or her coat from house to house. This works for some families, but is unnecessary for others, who don’t mind sharing clothes.
Special gifts often present tricky situations. A parent may spend a substantial amount on a gift for a child’s birthday or other holiday, and want the exclusive right to watch the child enjoy that toy. That said, it can make the transfer to the other parent’s house difficult for the child. He or she may be really excited to play with the toy and want to bring it along. In these cases, it may be helpful to prepare the child for the fact that they will not be pemitted to bring the toy along to the other parent’s house – don’t leave it for the minute they are supposed to leave. In the alternative, it is sometimes worth it to allow the child to bring the object with them. If you are worried about getting it back, it is helpful to get written agreement from the other parent that they will send it home with the child at the end of their residential time.

Transferring from one home to another can be tough on kids. Consider your kids’ best interests when you decide how to handle their personal belongings. If you have children and are facing divorce, pleasecontact us.

Postsecondary Education Expenses – 3 Considerations

June 20, 2014 | by Blair & Kim, PLLC

Parents of high school students planning on heading to college or technical school after high school often spend part of their summer looking at colleges, or helping kids prepare for the SATs. Parents may also spend some of their time planning on (or worrying about) how they will pay for their children’s education. For a parent of a high school student not married to child’s other parent, there is also the consideration of how to share the cost of the child’s education with the other parent.

A parent may choose to ask that the court require the other parent to contribute to the child’s educational expenses. If the parent is considering doing so, he or she should do the following:

Review RCW 26.19.090. This statute provides the things the court will consider when determining whether postsecondary support should be awarded. It is a good starting point for anyone considering requesting postsecondary support.
Gather Information and Documentation. After your review of RCW 26.19.090 is complete, you should start to gather documents that could help you prove that your child is intending to and capable of attending an accredited school, and that the child is dependent on you and the other parent. You will also want to gather documentation and information relating to any of the factors discussed in RCW 26.19.090(1).
Consider the Timing. If your child is not yet applied to any post-secondary school, it may be difficult for the court to determine the costs to be apportioned. It may be best to wait until your child has made a decision about what to do after high school. However, it is very important that you seek postsecondary support prior to the order of child support terminating. In most cases, child support ends when the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever is later. You must file your action for postsecondary support prior to that event occuring.

It is generally in your best interest to discuss your likelihood of success in a postsecondary case with a qualified attorney prior to filing anything with the court. If you live in the Seattle area, and have any questions regarding family law, we would be happy to speak with you.

Summer Residential Schedules

June 15, 2014 | by Blair & Kim, PLLC

Summer vacation has already started for many Washington children, and will be starting soon for the rest. For children of unmarried parents, this often means a change in their residential schedule. During the summer, kids may be spending more time with the non-primary residential parent at his or her home, or they may be vacationing with one or both parents. This can also mean changes in childcare and extracurricular activities.

Parenting plans can help families plan how summer break will be handled. Some families choose to have summer schedules that mimic their school year residential schedules. This is most common in families where both parents are local, and both parents work during the summer. For these families it can make the most sense to have the school year schedule continue year-round. This avoids unnecessary changes for the children and maintains frequent contact with both parents throughout the year.

Other unmarried parents have plans that schedule the children to reside the majority of the summer with a parent living far away from the child’s usual residence. This allows the children to have substantial time with the non-local parent without missing school or compromising their extracurricular schedule. It can be difficult for the child to be away from the primary residential parent. Frequent communication between the primary residential parent and the child should be encouraged.

Three Washington Laws Every Divorcing Person Should Consider

June 7, 2014 | by Blair & Kim, PLLC

If you are contemplating or experiencing a divorce, it is important that you are aware of Washington State Laws and how they might affect your divorce proceedings. Here are three laws that you should review and why they might be important to your case. This is just a brief look at Washington laws, and an attorney can assist you with a more in-depth review.

RCW 26.09.080 – This statute is important because it provides some of the factors that the court will look to when determining how marital property will be divided. The list of factors is not an exclusive list, and the court will consider other relevant factors not listed within the statute.
RCW 26.09.090 – This statute provides the factors the court will consider when determining whether to award spousal maintenance (commonly known as alimony). These factors are also used to determine how much maintenance to order, and for what duration maintenance should be ordered.
RCW 26.09.187 – In dissolution cases involving children, this can be the most important statute of all. Paragraph 3 of the statute provides the factors the court must consider when determining the proper residential schedule for the children. The statute requires that courts give the first factor the greatest weight.

If you would like to speak with a Seattle area divorce attorney, please contact us. We would be happy to discuss these laws and all others that might impact your case and your life.

De Facto Parentage

May 30, 2014 | by Blair & Kim, PLLC

De facto parentage is an area of law that few people outside of the family law community know about. It is a common law remedy for adults who have taken on the role of parent in a child’s life, without being a biological or adoptive parent to the child.

Certain circumstances have to have occurred in order for a de facto parentage relationship to have existed. Most importantly, an adult (often a person in a relationship with the child’s parent) is invited into the child’s life, and is encouraged by one or both of the parents to act as a parent to the child. Sometimes the adult invited into the child’s life is not ever excluded and the child and adult enjoy the benefits of their relationship without interruption.

Unfortunately, sometimes things don’t go as smoothly, and the child’s legal parent decides to exclude the other parent-like adult from the child’s life. In these cases (assuming that the child has at least one fit and available parent), Washington statutes will not provide a remedy for the person seeking to continue his or her relationship with the child. Fortunately for people in these circumstances, they may be able to protect their relationship with the child by qualifying as a de facto parent under the common law. To qualify as a de facto parent, the person must have (1) taken on a parenting role in the life of the child with the permission of one of the child’s parents; (2) lived in the same household as the child; (3) not expected financial compensation for having a parent-like relationship with the child; and (4) continued the adult/child relationship over a length of time sufficient to have established a bonded parental-like relationship with the child.

June 30, 2014 – What Will It Mean for State Registered Domestic Partners in Washington

May 24, 2014 | by Blair & Kim, PLLC

When it passed, Referendum 74 made same-sex marriage legal in Washington State. Along with providing equal rights to marriage to same-sex couples, this referendum changed domestic partnership law. After June 30, 2014, pursuant to RCW 26.60.030, to enter a state registered domestic partnership two people must meet the following requirements:

They must share a common residence;
Both must be over 18, and one must be at least 62 years of age;

What Happens When a Parent Doesn’t Follow the Parenting Plan

May 15, 2014 | by Blair & Kim, PLLC

Most parenting plans are not strictly followed all of the time. In fact, some parenting plans contain provisions for times when the parents may agree to not follow parts of the parenting plan (in which case their behavior is not a violation at all). Many times, the failure to follow the parenting plan is by agreement of both parties, and in the best interest of the kids. For example, if the child becomes ill during one parent’s residential time with the child, the parents may agree that the child should remain with that parent, rather than having to move to the other parent’s house (in compliance with the parenting plan’s residential schedule) while ill.

In most cases, and especially when done by agreement of the parties, violations of the parenting plan are never addressed by attorneys or the court. However, in circumstances where one party violates the parenting plan without the agreement of the other party, and the violations are frequent and/or serious, a parent may need to ask the court to enforce the parenting plan on their behalf. Here are some options for a parent dealing with the other parent’s noncompliance:

Do nothing. As stated previously, a parent may always choose to do nothing. If the violation does not bother you or your child, you do not have to do anything. (If the parent chooses to do nothing, they do risk that they could later be found to have acquiesced to the change in the parenting plan, providing the other party a case for modification.)
Seek the assistance of a lawyer who can draft a demand letter. In some cases, a firmly written letter to the other party demanding their compliance with the plan is enough to end the violations.
File a motion for a modification. If you believe these violations of the parenting plan create grounds for a modification (this is an issue that should be discussed with an attorney), you may file for a modification of the parenting plan. The modification should seek to end the violation of the parenting plan.
File a motion for contempt. If a motion for contempt is granted the court will have the ability to redress the violation. The court may order the violating parent to provide the other party with make-up time with the child. It may order that visitation be temporarily suspended. The court may also order the violating parent to pay the other parent’s attorney fees.

Please note, if you ever feel that you or your child’s safety is in immediate danger call the police and seek their assistance.

Who’s to Blame? Does it Matter?

May 2, 2014 | by Blair & Kim, PLLC

In some states determining whose fault it is that the marriage ends is a necessary part of the dissolution process. However, in Washington it is unnecessary to show who is to blame. A divorce may be ordered by the court without establishing that one party is at fault. In the majority of cases fault is also irrelevant to the property division, order of child support, and the parenting plan. There are, however, some circumstances when the behavior of one party during the marriage can affect the dissolution proceedings:

Parenting – A spouse who acts in a way that could threaten the health or welfare of the children should be aware that his or her behavior could affect the parenting plan. If the divorce was caused by one parent being abusive, using drugs, or otherwise living in a way that could compromise the safety and/or security of the children, then who is at fault in the divorce may become relevant.
Property – In limited circumstances, a party’s behavior during marriage can affect the property distribution and/or spousal maintenance. If it is found that one spouse used marital assets in a way that had no chance of benefiting the community the court may consider this when dividing assets. In determining spousal maintenance, the court may look at the behavior of the spouses during marriage.
Child Support – It is unlikely that the court will consider spousal fault in determining child support. However, if the spouses divorce because of one spouse’s failure to contribute to the family finances, this may become relevant to determining child support. In most cases, the parents’ income determines child support. In circumstances where one parent is unemployed or underemployed, the court has to set a child support level based on an imputed income.

It is important that you discuss with your attorney the reason that you and your spouse are divorcing. While it will not determine whether you can get divorced in Washington, it may impact other areas of your dissolution case.

Please contact us if you’d like to set an appointment.