children | Page 2 of 5

How Do I Get More Time with My Children?

We often hear from parents who are unhappy with their current parenting plan and want to have more time with their children. While the standard you have to meet for modifying a parenting plan is a tough one, there are several options to consider:...

“Compassionate Divorce” – My Thoughts on an Article by Roger B. Ley

I just read an article in our local Bar magazine, NWLawyer, by attorney Roger B. Ley on Compassionate Divorce. Basically, Roger's thesis is that kindness gets better results than vindictiveness. I agree wholeheartedly! Roger points out that when one side to a divorce makes room for thinking about...

Do Children Get a Say In Custody?

Under Washington law, children do not get to determine their custody arrangements. They may, however, get some chance to influence the court's decision. I have never seen a court allow a child to testify directly in court, as the court tries to avoid putting the children in the middle of the divorc...

Can I Get Sole Custody?

In Washington State we do not generally discuss parenting in terms of "custody". Normally in this state, the parents share custody of the children; i.e. both parents continue to be involved in raising the children. One parent might have the children more of the time (often referred to as the "prima...

Six Tips for Settling Your Divorce

Note that I did not say "winning" your divorce. As a general rule, no one wins a divorce case; instead the court tries to be as fair to both as possible and both sides get something. While there are those people who look forward to taking the other spouse to court, most people just want to get the c...

What is Co-Parenting, and Why Would We Do It?

To me co-parenting means two parents who, though no longer together, are able to cooperate with each other in jointly parenting their children. Many separated parents seem to operate in different spheres - each is parenting during their time with the children entirely independent of the other. Ea...

Using a Child Specialist in Your Divorce

We often have a Child Specialist on the team in our Collaborative divorce cases. However, a Child Specialist can be very helpful in any divorce with children where the parents hope to be able to continue to work effectively together as co-parents after the divorce. A Child Specialist role is very...

Divorce Coaching

When couples want to have a more amicable divorce process, Divorce Coaching can help turn that hope into reality. We regularly use Divorce Coaches on Collaborative teams, but a Divorce Coach can also be very helpful to couples engaging in mediation or using a kitchen table approach. Divorce Coach...

Alternative Child Support

Washington has established child support guidelines for how child support is to be calculated by the courts. The courts have the ability to deviate from the guidelines but have an obligation to ensure that the deviated support still meets the needs of the children. The ability to deviate actually...

On Leaving and Being Left

In most divorces, and indeed in most relationship breakups, there is a person who has chosen to leave the relationship and a person who is being left. A key difference between the person who is leaving and the person who is being left is that the person who has made the choice to leave has had all t...

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