Family Law

Breakup of marriage, property and custody

What is Family Law?

An area of law dealing with family and domestic issues, like:– Marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships– Domestic violence and abuse– Adoption, surrogacy, legitimacy– Termination of family relationships (divorce,

annulment, property settlements, alimony, child support, custody, visitation rights)

Dissolution of Marriage

In Washington, divorce is called dissolution of marriage

The governing law is RCW 26.09 Washington is a no-fault divorce state

– This means you do not have to show anything more than irreconcilable differences

Ending the marriage

File dissolution petition with the court Wait 90 days Get a final dissolution decree (3 ways):

– Both parties agree to it– Both argue in front of the judge, who enters a

judgment– Default decree entered (no one argues)

Dissolution Decree

Ends the marriage Decides the following matters:

– marital property and debt allocation– Custody rights– Child support– Spousal maintenance– Restraining orders

The Property

Dividing up the marital property, (i.e. who gets what)

What is marital property?

Marital Property is property of the marriage, often it includes:

– Real property: houses and land– Personal property: boats, cars, art– Financial assets: cash, stocks, bonds– Future interests: pensions, retirement funds– Contractual rights

Question: Who does this belong to when the marriage ends?

Answer: It depends

Community Property

In WA, most of the assets are Community Property Each spouse is regarded as contributing to the wellbeing of the community and

equally shares in the financial wellbeing of the marriage Each spouse has a ½ interest in any property acquired by the marital

community 9 community property states:

– Washington– California– Texas– Louisiana– New Mexico– Wisconsin– Idaho– Arizona– Nevada– Alaska (can choose community property)

Community Property

Most money coming into the marriage is community property, this includes:– salaries and compensation– Windfalls– Sale of community property– Interest and rent income

Marital Community

Wife’s Salary

Husband’sLabor

Husband’sSalary

Wife’sLabor

Community and Separate Property

Strong presumption that property acquired during marriage is community property

However, some property is SEPARATE property– This is property that belongs to a spouse

individually

Separate Property

Property held by a person before the marriage

Property received as a gift or inheritance by a person

Rents and profits from separate property remain separate property

Mixed Property

Of course, property will get mixed together, and this becomes mixed property

– For example, a person may buy a house, then get married, and the make payments after the marriage using income from their salary (which is now community property).

Usually a court will proportion this property– Basically divide it up according to whether the money used

to pay for it was community or separate

Mixed Property

Mixed property can cause funny things to happen

For example, a husband is injured in car accident and wins an award of 200,000 dollars (100,000 for lost wages, and 100,000 for pain and suffering)– The 100,000 for lost wages is community property– The 100,000 for pain and suffering is the separate

property of the husband

Property and Dissolution

When the marriage ends, each spouse gets:– Separate property– ½ community property

However, judges have DISCRETION, and can equitably distribute property, giving one spouse more or less than ½ community property

– For example, if one spouse never worked and gambled away all the money, the court may award that spouse less than ½ community property

Community Property and Unmarried Couples

In WA, we allow for committed intimate relationships– Relationship must be stable and marital-like, court will look

at: Duration of relationship Cohabitation Pooling of resources Intent of parties Purpose of the relationship

Court will use equitable powers to distribute property based on community property principles

Unmarried couples:

However, Washington does not recognize common law marriages,

– (unmarried couple living together like a married couple, same as a committed intimate relationship)

So when distributing property at the end of the relationship, the court will use of the community property principles

– BUT, parties do not get any other marital rights (like rights to retirement funds, pensions or health care)

– This is to promote public policy of encouraging people to marry

The Kids

What happens to the kids?

Custody

“In any proceeding between parents… the best interests of the child shall be the standard by which the court determines and allocates the parties' parental responsibilities.” RCW 26.09.002– This means that a court will consider the best

interests of the child in deciding custody rights

What are best interests?

The best interests of the child are served by a parenting arrangement that best maintains the child’s:– Emotional growth– Health – Stability– Physical care

What are best interests?

The best interest also means maintaining the existing interaction between parent and child as much as possible

The parent child relationship is altered only:– to extent necessitated by the changed

relationship of the parents – or to protect the child from physical, mental, or

emotional harm RCW 26.09.002

Who are the parents?

Only legal parents have custody rights Legal parents are:

– Natural parents– Adoptive parents