How a Washington divorce actually goes
Deciding to divorce, or having it decided for you, is never easy — but it is usually necessary, and it usually leads somewhere better. Knowing the shape of the process makes the first month much less frightening.
The floor on timingWashington imposes a 90-day minimum waiting period after the petition is filed and served. Nothing final happens before that. An uncontested case can finish close to the 90 days; a contested parenting or property case takes considerably longer, and the honest answer to how long depends almost entirely on how reasonable the other side chooses to be.
The stages- Petition filed and served
- Temporary orders — who lives where, who the children are with, how bills get paid
- Financial disclosure
- Negotiation or mediation
- Trial, only if it can't be agreed
- Final orders entered
- Implementation, and modification later if circumstances change
Creating or escalating conflict for no good reason is something we avoid. We can't always control a combative opposing party or lawyer, but we can decline to add to it — and for our attorneys this isn't about racking up hours. Where an emergency needs an after-hours appointment, we'll make one.
Parenting plans and custody
This is the part that outlasts everything else. Property gets divided once; a parenting plan governs Tuesdays for the next decade.
Washington is not a 50/50 stateThere is no default equal split. A parenting plan is built around the children's best interests and each parent's actual involvement in their lives — who has been doing the school runs, the appointments, the bedtimes. A plan that reflects reality tends to hold up; one that reflects a negotiating position tends to come back.
What a plan decides- The residential schedule
- Holidays and school breaks
- Decision-making on education, health care and religion
- Transportation and exchanges
- Dispute-resolution process
- Restrictions where a child isn't safe
- Relocation — which carries its own notice requirements
We keep children out of the middle, and we're direct with clients about the difference between what would feel satisfying and what a court is actually likely to order. Where mental health or substance use is genuinely affecting a child's safety, that gets addressed with evidence rather than accusation.
Dividing property and debt
Washington is a community-property state. What you earned during the marriage is presumed to belong to both of you — and the exceptions are narrower than most people assume.
Separate property has to be traceableGifts and inheritances can remain your separate property, but only if you keep them separate and traceable. An inheritance deposited into a joint account, or spent on a shared mortgage or a joint renovation, becomes very hard to identify as yours — and the burden of proving something is separate falls on the person claiming it. Even with careful structure, Washington courts keep broad discretion to divide property in the way they consider just and equitable.
What has to be sorted- The house — equity, refinancing, or sale
- Retirement accounts and pensions
- Vehicles and personal property
- Business interests
- Debt, including debt in one name only
- Separate property claims and tracing
- Tax consequences of the split
If you know an inheritance is coming, talk to a lawyer before it arrives rather than after. And on the house: we'd rather show you the real math on equity, income and what you'd be trading than promise you an outcome you can't afford to keep.
Child support and spousal maintenance
Getting the numbers right the first time matters more than people expect, because these orders are what you live on — or live under — for years.
Child support runs on a scheduleWashington child support is calculated from a statewide schedule based on both parents' combined income and the number and ages of the children, with adjustments for things like health insurance, daycare and long-distance transportation. Spousal maintenance is different — it isn't formulaic, and turns on factors including the length of the marriage, the standard of living during it, and each spouse's earning capacity and needs.
Where the disputes are- Income that isn't a paycheck — self-employment, cash, bonuses
- Imputed income where someone is underemployed
- Overtime and seasonal income
- Health insurance and uninsured medical costs
- Daycare and work-related childcare
- Post-secondary support
- Enforcement when payments stop
Income that isn't a W-2 is where most support fights actually live. If the other side is self-employed, or paid partly in cash, that needs proper attention early — after an order is entered it's much harder to fix.
Protection orders, and when family law meets criminal law
Protection and no-contact orders sit at the intersection of the two areas this firm works in most, which means the consequences run in both directions at once.
One incident, several casesA domestic violence allegation can produce a criminal charge, a no-contact order, a protection order, and a change to a parenting plan — on different timelines, in different courtrooms. In Washington a domestic violence designation turns on the relationship between the people involved rather than the seriousness of what's alleged, so the label arrives in situations far more complicated than a police report suggests.
What we handle- Petitioning for a protection order
- Responding to one against you
- No-contact order conditions and violations
- Firearm surrender consequences
- The effect on a parenting plan
- Safety planning alongside the legal case
- Coordinating with a parallel criminal case
If you're in danger, the safety plan comes before the legal strategy — and if you're the one accused, understand that a violation is a separate crime, so the order has to be followed exactly even when it feels unjust. Because we do both criminal defense and family law, we can see the whole board rather than half of it.
Changing an order after the case is over
Circumstances change. Jobs end, people move, children grow into different needs. Final orders are final until someone asks a court to revisit them, and the standard for that is real but not impossible.
Not every change qualifiesModification generally requires a substantial change in circumstances since the last order — not simply that you now dislike the arrangement or would negotiate differently today. Parenting-plan modifications carry a higher bar than support adjustments, and relocation has its own process with notice requirements attached.
Common reasons to revisit- A parent relocating
- A significant change in either income
- A child's needs changing with age
- A parent not following the plan
- Safety concerns that have emerged since
- Support that no longer matches reality
The cheapest version of this conversation happens before you file. Tell us what changed and we'll tell you honestly whether it clears the standard, because a modification that fails costs money and usually worsens the relationship you still have to co-parent inside.