presumption

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.

This blog previously discussed the uncomfortable reality for Kim Kardashian that her ex-husband will be the presumed father of her child. Kim is not the only one facing this situation, and we thought this might be a nice time to go through what can be done in Washington (a state with a marital presumption like California) when a woman’s husband is not the father of her child. As stated in the first blog article regarding the topic, there is a marital presumption in Washington that presumes a child born during a marriage, or within 300 days of its dissolution, is the husband’s child. While Kim’s sixty-two day marriage may be uncommon, this situation is more common than you might think. Sometimes couples end their marriage emotionally, socially, financially, and physically without doing so legally. The legal spouses move on and have other relationships, some of which might result in pregnancy. In this instance, the husband (even if he has not had marital relations with his wife in years) is still presumed the father of the child.

When this happens, it is often of interest to one or all of the involved parties to have the husband’s paternity disestablished, and the biological father of the child established as the legal father. To have his paternity disestablished, the presumed father may seek an order disestablishing his paternity. He can do this as part of his petition for dissolution. Another option is for the presumed father (the husband), the mother (the wife), and the biological father (wife’s new partner) to sign an acknowledgment of paternity establishing the biological father as the legal father of the child. A third option is for one of the interested parties to file a parentage action, asking the court to establish the biological father’s paternity.

There are important legal obligations that come with being a child’s presumed legal parent. If you are in a situation like the one above, it is likely in your interest to discuss your options with a family law attorney. We would be happy to discuss your case and the possible outcomes of your situation.

Articles Tagged with presumption

Relocation

What Happens When the Husband (Presumed Father) is Not the Child’s Father?