Articles Posted in Family Law

Spring in Western Washington is a time for rain, tulips, planting gardens, and planning for summer vacation.  It is also a time for unmarried parents of high-school aged children (especially seniors in high school) to consider whether they will be looking to their child’s other parent for help paying for college or technical school.  Some parents are surprised to discover that they can’t wait until fall, when their kids will actually start school, to deal with how their child’s postsecondary education will be paid for.  Waiting for fall may be too late!

In most cases postsecondary child support is not included in the original order of child support, and it is instead reserved (or not addressed at all) for parties to deal with at a later date.  Importantly, the later date must be prior to the end of the current order of child support.  Most orders of child support terminate when the child turns eighteen or graduates from high school whichever is later.  Parents should check their orders of child support to see when their order terminates.

It is important to note that postsecondary child support is not mandatory.  Courts may refuse to order post-secondary support based on the circumstances of the child or the parents.  When deciding whether to order postsecondary support courts look to RCW 26.19.090.  This statute sets forth the standards for postsecondary educational support awards.  The court in these cases must determine whether the child is still dependent on the parents.  If the child is still dependent on the parents, the court is to determine whether to award postsecondary support, how much to award, and for how long support should be provided based upon the following factors:

To continue from last week’s post, here are more questions frequently asked by Washington clients involved in family law cases:

1. Am I allowed to move?

When an unmarried parent wants to move they have to consider how their move may impact their relationship with their child.  With that in mind, many unmarried parents come into our office wondering whether they are permitted to move.  The short answer is usually yes.  The longer (and more helpful answer) is that it depends.  When we say that people can move, we mean that they do have the right to move.  What they may not have the right to do is move their children.  In general, if an unmarried parent wants to move within the child’s current school district, it will not be a problem and they are free to do so.   However, if the move is outside the child’s school district boundaries, the move should be discussed with a family law attorney.  In these cases some parents may be required to provide more formal notice, and may end up needing to go to court to ask the court to permit them to move with their children.  Continue reading

In many family law cases, the parties choose to use a dispute resolution method other than going to court.  In some family law cases, parties are actually required to participate in the alternative dispute resolution process before they will be permitted access to the courts.  No matter what the reason for participating in this process, there are many benefits to using the alternative dispute resolution process in family law cases.

By way of definition, alternative dispute resolution includes informal negotiations between the parties all the way to days of arbitrating before a professional arbitrator with both parties represented by counsel.  Court orders sometimes require some level of alternative dispute resolution as a way of minimizing costs and resolving disputes without the use of the court system.  Continue reading