Changing your final parenting plan or parenting plan decree requires leaping a few hurdles. These are designed to dissuade a party from easily disrupting the lives and routines of the children involved. The process of modifying a parenting plan can be difficult for...
Making Sure it gets Paid. An order to pay maintenance typically requires an obligor spouse to make monthly payments to the other spouse (or domestic partner). Payments are often made directly to the spouse, i.e. by check or money order (one should never pay...
Spousal maintenance (or alimony as it is known in other states) is awarded to the economically disadvantaged spouse, during and after dissolution of a marriage or domestic partnership, or a legal separation. Payments are meant to help a spouse with monthly needs like...
Children are not cheap. Married or unmarried, parents alike understand this shortly after their child (or children) come into the world. The new parents' world suddenly turns from budgeting for themselves, to themselves plus one-often, followed by another, sometimes...
Trial courts are entitled to broad discretion in dissolution proceedings. In re Marriage of Wright, 179 Wn. App. 257, 261, 319 P.3d 45 (2013). Because the trial court is in the best position to determine what is fair, its decisions will be reversed only if there has...
On a spousal support basis, a homemaker is not required to seek employment, pawn jewelry, or exhaust credit before they are entitled to spousal support as long as need is shown. Further, an unemployed individual need not pauperize themselves by selling assets to...
In order to have value, a professional degree must have been procured. It is more than a simple Bachelor of Arts or Science degree. For ease of identification, let's say it is a doctor, lawyer or a Master's Degree. The question then becomes: has the community received...
Due to the sensitive nature of divorce and the impact the outcomes may have on people's futures, it is important they use care when hiring their attorneys.In 2014, the divorce rate was 3.6 for every 1,000 residents in Washington, according to the Centers for Disease...
When a family owned business is valued in a dissolution action, the argument often is made that paying spousal maintenance based on the income that was valued as part of an asset is a "double dip". Such allegations often fail to understand that business experts only...
Property is divided in a just and equitable manner in the state of Washington. There are many factors that come into play. Parties often equate a just and equitable division with an equal division. This is wrong. Courts have a great deal of latitude in interpreting...
