How Do You Win Custody in Washington State? Learn from a firm's Managing Attorney

How do you win custody in Washington State? The key is to properly position yourself and gather trustworthy evidence. You can read the enhanced article on the subject at https://www.genesislawfirm.com/win-cu....

First strategy, do everything you can to document any dangers the other side presents to the children. Examples of these dangers include child abuse, spousal abuse, molestation, drug or alcohol addiction, and a parent’s extreme neglect of a child. These are the court's foremost consideration when allocating residential time, or custody. You can document this kind of thing by keeping a daily journal, taking photographs, gathering treatment records, and getting informal statements from witnesses.

Second strategy, strengthen and document your emotional bond with your child. The law typically says the bond between the parent and child is the most important custody factor when danger isn't the paramount concern. Spend significant time doing what you child enjoys.

Strategy number three: take every opportunity to perform "parenting functions". Parenting functions tend to determine the outcome in cases where a) there are no serious dangers and b) the parties haven't informally separated prior to filing with the court. By performing "parenting functions", I mean things like cooking, feeding, clothing, physical care, supervision, transportation, education, and health care. Perform these functions and get documentation if possible. Pickup and drop-off your child at daycare, and get daycare records to prove it. Take your child to his or her doctor’s appointments and get to know the physician so she can testify on your behalf. Take your child to his or her school activities, and get to know the teacher. Take your child to his or her extracurricular activities, and get to know the other adults there. Enroll your child in activities, and get a copy of the sign-up sheet bearing your signature.

Strategy four, strive to gain as much time with your child as possible during any informal separation from your spouse. Courts often fashion custody orders (parenting plans) that maintain the parties’ informal custody arrangements. Courts believe actions speak louder than words. The judge is unlikely to believe a party who left the children in the other parent’s primary care and later claims the other parent should not have custody.

Fifth strategy: document your ability to care for your special needs child if you have one. Caring for the special needs child is proof of your performance of an essential parenting function. By doing this, you not only increase your odds of getting custody of the special needs child. It also drastically increase the likelihood of gaining custody of any other children from your marriage. This is because courts try to keep siblings together. Brothers and sisters often need each other for emotional support.

Sixth, if you move out prior to initiating the divorce, chose someplace with low crime, top-notch schools, and good medical facilities. If you live someplace safer and otherwise better than your soon-to-be-ex, it would be in your child’s best interest to live with you, right?

Seventh, clean yourself up. Quit smoking. Get your drinking under control. Go to rehab if necessary.

Ideally you would do all these things for at least 12 months prior to the divorce. Courts place special emphasis on the year prior to the case and much less on what happened longer ago.

That’s it! We hope you found this helpful. Our firm believes in making quality legal information available for free on the internet. For more, visit our website, https://www.genesislawfirm.com, and click on the resources tab in the upper right corner. From all of us at Genesis, best of luck with your family law matter!

Genesis Law Firm, PLLC - Everett
3802 Colby Ave Ste 2
Everett, WA 98201
(425) 212-1789
https://www.genesislawfirm.com/

Genesis Law Firm, PLLC - Bellevue
40 Lake Bellevue Drive Ste 330
Bellevue, WA 98005
(425) 458-2414
https://www.genesislawfirm.com/bellev...