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
Wife’s Husband’s Wife’s Husband’s
Salary Salary Labor Labor

Marital
Community
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