Your relationship with your children is everything, and your divorce should reflect that.

Whether you wish to protect your time with them, ensure their safety, or deal with a co-parent who is violating your schedule, you don’t have to navigate this stressful chapter alone.

A quick note on terminology:

‘Parenting plans‘ have replaced ‘custody‘ language in Washington state family law procedures in an effort to get away from the notion that a child is “awarded” to a given parent and to instead emphasize the role of both parents in raising a child.

‘Visitation rights’ are what a parent often has in the event that they are not considered to be the child’s primary residential parent. Parenting plans often divide time unequally.

What to Expect: Designing a Schedule That Minimizes Stress for Your Kids

Parenting plans are structured to keep both parents as involved as possible in raising their children.

Normally joint decision-making is mandated, which means both parents need to agree on major decisions such as school choice, medical care, etc. Your Seattle visitation lawyer may suggest you define how you and your co-parent wish to go about joint decision-making in more depth than what the standard language in the parenting plan forms allow.

Parenting time is often unequal.

The courts tend to believe that the children’s school time should not be disrupted by going back and forth. Thus, they tend to leave the children in one household for school days, but divide up the rest of the schedule. An attorney can outline a typical visitation schedule for your review, which may look like every other weekend, a block/blocks of time throughout the summer, and half of the other school breaks and holidays.

Should I hire a Seattle visitation lawyer?

There is no obligation to hire an attorney to negotiate a visitation schedule. If you and the other parent(s) are able to come to an agreement easily, there is likely no need. 

If you’re…

  • having concerns as to the safety of your child.
  • case involves allegations of abuse. 
  • case involves allegations of alcohol or drug abuse.
  • co-parent is unnecessarily hostile and adversarial. 
  • circumstances will require an unusual visitation arrangement. 

Non-parental relatives seeking visitation rights should speak with a Seattle visitation lawyer before taking action as these are complicated cases. If you petition the court for visitation and your petition is denied, you cannot seek visitation again.

What is a reasonable visitation plan?

There is no one-size-fits-all visitation plan – what is reasonable for one family may not be appropriate for another. While the parenting plan should aim to be as fair and equitable as possible, it will vary according to each parent’s schedule, location, and ability to provide care. A Seattle visitation attorney can help you negotiate a fair visitation plan for both you and your children.

🌙Overnight Visitation

Washington law does not require overnight visits nor specify at what age they are appropriate. If you and the other parent(s) are unable to come to an agreement, however, the matter will be decided by the court. The court defaults to awarding overnight visits unless specific safety risks are present. We can help you present evidence to the court if your case involves:

  • Infant Care Challenges: The practical difficulties of feeding or caring for a very young child overnight.
  • Parenting Deficiencies: A documented lack of basic parenting skills or ability.
  • Inadequate Space: A lack of safe, adequate accommodations for the child.
  • History of Trauma: A proven history of domestic violence or substance abuse.

The issue of overnight visitation can be difficult to resolve. An experienced Seattle visitation lawyer can work with you and your co-parent to reach an arrangement that is fair and provides both a healthy and safe environment for your child.

Restricted Visitation Situations

When parents are not able to work well with each other, the courts tend to establish some distance between the parents and minimize child transfers between them, as those exchanges are often triggers for conflict. Severe cases usually see the court requiring the parents to exchange the children at a neutral location such as a parking lot or through a neutral third party.

I’m worried about my children’s safety. What options do I have?

If there are concerns about or a history of abuse (or other hazards), you may be entitled to ask the court to require the co-parent be limited to visitation in a supervised setting. To be successful in your request for supervised visitation, it is important to articulate your concerns clearly and include evidence. If you are concerned for your child’s safety, we strongly recommend that you speak to a Seattle visitation lawyer at our family law firm right away.

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Why are they even being granted visitation?

The courts tend to believe that losing contact with a parent entirely is detrimental to the child’s long-term mental and emotional health. Therefore, they prefer to order supervised visitation to ensure that the child still has a relationship with the parent, while keeping the child safe. Your Seattle visitation lawyer can help you decide what may be appropriate in your case.

What to Do If Your Co-Parent Stops Following the Visitation Schedule

Whether your relationship with your co-parent has deteriorated and they start violating the visitation schedule out of spite or they’re struggling to maintain control of their life, you have options in how you respond to the situation. Parenting plans are always drafted with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, life can get in the way.

  1. Do nothing. This can help build your case later if you can show that you didn’t seek immediate legal action at the first minor violation. However, you do risk creating the impression that you have consented to a change to the visitation plan that you do not want. 
  2. Hire a visitation lawyer to issue a demand letter. Your Seattle visitation lawyer can send a stern letter demanding that they take immediate steps to honor the visitation plan. This step is often sufficient to end the violations. 
  3. File a motion for modification. You can file a motion with the court asking to modify the visitation plan to correct the violation. You and your co-parent may be able to come to an agreement to make the process easier. 
  4. File a motion for contempt. If the co-parent won’t agree to a modification and refuses to honor the visitation plan, your only option may be to file a motion for contempt. If your co-parent is found to be in contempt, they may be ordered by the court to comply with the visitation plan, as well as allow for additional visitation to correct the past violations. They may also be ordered to pay your attorney’s fees. If they do not honor the court’s order, they may face severe consequences such as fines or even incarceration.

It’s important to keep in mind that some parents use unintentional or minor violations of the visitation agreement as a way to harass the other parent. Accordingly, some judges may grow tired of such efforts and deny motions because they believe they are without merit. Our Seattle visitation lawyer can help you decide when the time is right to pursue a modification or contempt order and then build the strongest possible case. 

What to Expect—and How We Protect Your Rights—at a Court Hearing

If you are unable to agree on visitation, the matter may have to be resolved at a court hearing. A Seattle visitation lawyer can represent you at the visitation hearing and make sure that you are fully prepared. Your lawyer will help protect your parental rights as well as your child’s future.

If a hearing is scheduled, you can expect the following:

  1. The court will take testimony from both sides as to why or why not visitation should be granted. 
  2. The court will accept evidence supporting each side’s position. This includes testimony from witnesses, court records, a report from a Guardian ad Litem or parenting investigator, and anything else that may be deemed relevant. 
  3. The GAL/investigator report may include the results of an interview with your child, including any statements as to their preferences. 
  4. After reviewing the evidence and considering the testimony given, the judge will determine whether visitation should be granted, and if so, what an appropriate visitation arrangement would be. While they will consider the totality of the circumstances, the judge will ultimately base their decision on what is in the best interest of the child. 

Grandparents & Relatives: Visitation Rights

Washington’s new relative visitation laws are found in RCW 26.11. Under the new nonparental child visitation chapter, in order to be granted such visitation, you must:

  • Have an ongoing and substantial relationship with the child, and
  • Be a relative of the child, and
  • Be able to show that the child is likely to suffer harm if visitation is denied.
  • Be able to show that visitation is in the best interest of the child.

Who can seek relative visitation?

Those who have a substantial relationship with the child...

  1. ongoing for at least two years, or half of the life of the child for a child under two, and
  2. without the expectation of financial compensation.

That second provision is one to take particular note of. It means that, for instance, a grandparent who has been paid to sit the grandchildren is not able to bring a visitation action! If you think that you may sometime in the future need to file for third-party visitation rights, you need to make sure you are NOT accepting any compensation from the parents (or anyone else such as the state). While sitting the child may establish the needed relationship, it must not be paid.

As a parent, can I deny a relative's visitation request?

The court presumes a parental decision to deny visitation is justified.

This resumption must be specifically rebutted by clear and convincing evidence that the visitation is in the best interest of the child. Washington’s RCW 26.11.040 lists a number of factors for the court to consider when determining whether this burden of proof is met, including:

  • The relationship between the relative and the child.
  • The relationship between the parents and the child.
  • The relationship between the relative and the parents.
  • The parents’ reasons for objecting to visitation.
  • The child’s preferences (if the child is old enough).

Historical Context

Around 1998 – 2000 there were several court cases that found Washington’s laws on third-party visitation to be unconstitutional. This made it basically impossible in most situations for a non-parent such as a grandparent to bring any kind of legal action seeking visitation with a child. Only recently has the Washington legislature put in place new laws again providing for third-party visitation actions, specifically designed to avoid the constitutional issues that had created problems for so many years.

Let’s map out a clear legal plan to protect your parental rights and bring stability back to your kids' lives.

Make sure to discuss custody and visitation with your Seattle visitation lawyer early in your case so you can get off on the right foot. Prefer to speak sooner? Call us at (206)784-3049 from 9:30am to 5:00pm.

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