Washington Child Custody Legal Questions

If your friend gets kicked out or feels he is being abused by his parents he should call GLBT National Help Center Peer-counseling, information, and local resources. (888)-THE-GLNH or (888) 843-4564 [Monday - Friday, 1 p.m. - 9 p.m.] This will give him the information specific for his home state. Once he has that information, he can provide your grandparent's information to the agency that provides him with relief as a place he can go. If he comes here without any legal authority, he needs to turn himself in to the juvenile court and they can place him into foster care with your grandparents after they pass the foster care licensing procedure. Adoption is certainly not appropriate here, but either foster care or a third party guardianship would be appropriate. His computer skills are irrelevant until he has graduated from high school at least. Depending on how far he is from graduating, he also may want to wait until he has graduated and is then free to do what he wants. If his parents can't or won't pay for college, he should apply for every form of scholarship and financial aid. This will give him the best chance of making a go of his life. Getting out of his current situation would probably be good for him, but it may not be the best solution if he is close to being an adult anyway. Most states consider high school graduation the equivalent of being 18 and able to be on your own. Emancipation is difficult, has to be done in the state in which the child lives and really requires that the child be able to support himself. All unlikely. Good luck to your friend and thank you for being kind to him.... Read More

What is outside his "scope and powers?" If his decision ended in a child support order than he was within his power. Credibility of a party or witness is within his power to determine. What evidence he weighs most heavily is also within his powers. I think you need to have a lawyer review the decision to determine if indeed, the arbitrator did anything wrong or you just don't agree with the decision.... Read More

The children from the previous marriage are not suject to this divorce. There is no custody as such in Washington. There is residential time and decision making authority. Each parent will get some time with the children. How much depends on a long list of criteria. At a minimum, speak with a lawyer to see what is reasonable to ask for in a parenting plan.... Read More

Going to court may to your advantage. The court will input income to her. Whether she makes money or not, she has the obligation. What you really need to do is run worksheets with her inputted income to see how it will come out for you. If the total support is that amount based solely on your income, obviously the amount will go higher, but you will owe only your percentage of the whole figure with your income and her having had inputted income. The big question is how do the tax deductions go between you. The worksheets have ways to compute this. And more important, are you getting all the credits you should be. The amount you have agreed to pay may be a bit shy of what the true amount should be, but you can argue that she has to pay everything out of what you give her, nothing additional is owed like school clothes, sports fees or extra curricular activities. I suspect she asks for additional for these. In any case going to the court for a set figure for support may not be as scary as you believe and may cut out the extras she probably asks for you to pay too. If you have 65% of the income between you and your income is presented correctly - namely net income, not gross or adjusted gross - and she is obligated to bring something to the table by inputted figures by age. then you would only owed 65% of the amount support is calculated to be. And you may be able to get two of the tax deductions, so your tax bill would be lower. Then there is the extra days you have the children (you said you have them half the time - well you get a credit for that against the support owed), you may not be hurt at all by a court review. You need to find someone who will run the numbers for you, just so you can figure this out. Running the numbers probably will cost you $50.... Read More

Look at what your child support order says. Unless it requires you to exchange yearly tax returns or says you have to report increases in income, you do not have to report this change. Child support can be adjusted every two years, or if he hears about it, he can ask for a modification. However, he will still need to be support. The total amount of support will increase and the percentages will change.... Read More

DNA costs are between $500-$750. Establishing paternity is step one of the process. Once that's done, you need to get an actual parenting plan and child support order. There is no average cost. This, like all family cases is billed largely by the hour. The cost depends on the lawyer's experience, hourly fee and the complexity of the case, which is unpredictable.... Read More

There is no "full custody" in WA, only residential time and decision making authority. You have them the majority of time. If the father isn't using his time, the kids are with you full time. If you have joint decision making and the father hasn't seen the kids for a year, you can make a petition for modification that gives you sole decision making authority and requires him to do certain things before he sees the kids again. It's likely not worth the cost of doing that.... Read More

If support has been established, then there is some form of order out there. She needs to review her current order. If it is child support only, she will need to move to intervene (if not done already or she isn't named a party) and to establish custody and parenting time. If parenting time has already been set, then she must follow the current court order until the judge changes it. To change the order, she would need to file to modify and prove a material and substantial change in circumstances since the initial order was entered and the best interests of the children requires a change. Best wishes to your family.... Read More

On what basis do you deem the parents unfit? Only a court can make that determination. If you think they are unfit and have some objective evidence, you can file a third party custody action in the state in which the children live. The court can then evaluate the evidence, likely appoint a guardian ad litem, and place the children with you, if the court deems placement with you in the children's best interest.... Read More

You can't just refuse. The question is if he is able to interact with the children, even if someone else is doing the physical caretaking, then the court would likely order it, if you withhold and he files a motion for contempt. The way you need to think about this is the children's father was hurt. Seeing him, if he can interact with them, will ease their burden (as well as being his right). If on the other hand, he is on so much pain killer that he can't interact at all, then a reasonable solution is to have only brief visits (when he can) and resume normal visitation when he is able.... Read More

In a 50/50 plan there is rarely much of a transfer payment unless the parents earn very different amount of money. You're not excused from working. Your parenting plan can not address support issues, it has to be in the order of child support. If he is in arrears for payments under the order of child support, you can go to court on a motion for contempt.... Read More

It is doubtful that juvenile court would give guardianship to an 18 year old. However, the court can place you with a foster family and require the family to maintain frequent contact with your brother. You can submit yourself to the family court and ask for shelter based on your mother's abuse.... Read More

Absolutely not. A notary is not an attorney and cannot give legal advice. You have no parental rights to the child. If you take the child, you may be charged with custodial interference a felony. If you are not the legal father, your recourse is to file a 3rd party custody petition. You will not be able to do this without an attorney so please hire counsel.... Read More

If there is no parenting plan in place, what makes you the custodial parent and what gives either of you specific weekends? If there is no court order, then the notice requirement does not apply. If there is a court order, then you have a basis for a motion for contempt if the other parent violated it.... Read More

If the father has never been in the child's like and you have never sought to establish him as the legal father and get child support, which is the right of the child, what makes you think there is any objective reason your son needs contact now, let alone with have siblings he's never met? This sounds like a romantic notion not a reasonable idea. If you want him to know his father, then file a proper parentage action. Yes, this will give him the legal rights of a parent. If you don't need his support and don't want him in the picture, clearly he's not interested or he could have filed any time during these 10 years. How does your son even know about these siblings? If you don't feed it, it won't grow. What possible benefit would come to your son from these relationships? I would do nothing unless you want the father in the picture.... Read More

Your question was unclear. If you were surrogates, do you mean the intention was for your brother and sister in law to have the child. If so and there was no legal surrogacy agreement, which there should have been, they can adopt the child which will make it legally theirs and it will free you of any further responsibility. You can't just sign over children. They need to get a lawyer if they want this child and do a proper adoption.... Read More

Children are not fungible. Unless someone wants to adopt your child, you will have to continue to take responsibility for him. Work with DCS to get child support to a level so you can pay every month. But child support is controlled by statute so you will have to pay based on your earnings and the earnings of the mother.... Read More