How is Child Support Determined?

Parents have a legal duty to support their children. In Washington, child support is calculated based on the parents' income as well as the number and age of the children. If Parent A makes 65% of their combined income, Parent A will pay 65% of the child support due. Washington has a mandatory schedule courts must use to calculate child support. To estimate how much child support might be awarded in your case, use DSHS's online child support calculator.

The court is allowed to deviate from the schedule if it determines that, under the circumstances, a deviation is in the child's best interests. If the court determines a parent is voluntarily not working or making less money to avoid his or her support obligation, the court can impute income to him or her and award child support based on the imputed income.

Child support must usually be paid monthly - even if the child moves to another state, but it may not exceed 45% of your net income (absent unusual circumstances). 

Moving the Kids (Relocation)

Washington maintains strict laws that govern the procedures for relocating a child or objecting to a child's relocation. 

Relocating with Your Child

Moving Outside the Child's Current School District: If the custodial parent wants to move out of the child's current school district, he or she must notify the other parent (and any other person entitled to court-ordered time with the child) by personal service or certified mail with return receipt. The notice must be given at least 60 days before the intended move. If the parent could not have known about the move 60 days in advance, he or she must give notice within 5 days of learning about the move. 

Moving Within the Child's Current School District: If the custodial parent wants to move within the child's current school district, he or she only has to give notice by reasonable means. The other parent can't object to the move - he or she can only request a modification of the parenting plan. 

Domestic Violence: If the moving parent is moving into a domestic violence shelter or to avoid a "clear, immediate and unreasonable risk to health and safety," the notice can be delayed for 21 days.The new address can be withheld from the notice if it is protected by court order or the parent is part of the address confidentiality program. If any of the notice requirements may put the parent or child's health or safety at risk, he or she can ask the court to waive them. 

The court may order sanctions, including contempt, if a parent fails to give proper notice. A parent intending to relocate should seek legal advice before attempting to move. The content requirements for the notice are described in RCW 26.09.440.

Objecting to Your Child's Relocation

Any person entitled to court-ordered time with the child can object to the child's relocation. If the relocating parent gives proper notice and no objection is filed within 30 days after service, the court will allow the relocation and may confirm the relocating parent's proposed revised residential schedule. Practically, the objection should be made as soon as possible before time and resources are committed to the move.

The relocating person cannot move the child during the 30-day time period in which others entitled to court-ordered time with the child have the right to object without a court order allowing the move.

Forms for relocating can be found here. Relocation actions are complex. Temporary and emergency orders may be granted if warranted under the circumstances. For more information about your rights and procedures regarding relocation, contact a Kirkland family law attorney. 

Stepparents and Child Support

Is a stepparent obligated to pay child support?

Maybe. When determining child support, courts will always look to the child's biological parents first. But a stepparent who lives with his or her stepchildren has a duty to support the children under Washington's family expense statute. A stepparent who does not live with the children (i.e. someone whose spouse has kids from a prior marriage that lives with the other parent) has no support duty. 

The stepparent's support duty terminates when the stepchild voluntarily leaves the biological parent's home, when the marriage is dissolved, or when the court otherwise orders it. A stepparent may still be ordered to pay child support while a divorce or legal separation is pending and until it is finalized. Informal legal separation of the parents is not enough to end the stepparent's support duty. 


Of course if the stepparent adopts the steppchild, he or she will be considered the same as a biological parent for child support purposes (and almost all other purposes too).

For more information, contact a Kirkland family law attorney.  

Parenting Plans

A parenting plan is a document that lays out the arrangements regarding the children of the parents. It discusses where the children will live, how much time they will spend with each parent, decision making arrangements regarding the children, and dispute resolution mechanisms for parenting issues. A parenting plan must be filed with the court when a couple with children divorces. Even if both parents agree on the terms of the parenting plan, the plan must still be approved by the court- which will consider whether the terms are in the best interests of the children.

Mandatory Restrictions: The court must restrict a parent's contact with a child if the parent has engaged in certain conduct, including: 

• Willful abandonment for an extended time period
• Substantial refusal to perform parenting functions 
• Physical, sexual or pattern of emotional abuse 
• History of domestic violence
• Assault
• Prior adult sex conviction
• Lives with adult who has been convicted of a sex offense

       *The court may, however, decline to restrict contact if it finds future contact will not harm the child or past conduct did not affect the child. 

Discretionary Restrictions: The court may decide to limit residential time or contact with a parent based on a variety of other factors that would affect the child's best interests. 

Residential Time with Each Parent: Washington courts generally don't like to enter parenting plans that order 50-50 time with each parent. But they may do so if the parents have a history of cooperation and geographic proximity and 50-50 time is in the child's best interests.

Child's Wishes: Courts may consider the child's wishes in determining the residential schedule, especially if the child is older.

Because parenting plans cannot be changed without going back to court, it is important that both parents understand the terms of their parenting plan and that the terms reflect the unique concerns of the family.

For more information on parenting plans, contact a Kirkland Family Law Attorney. 

Parenting Plan (Custody) Modifications

It is difficult to formally change a parenting plan in Washington. Because Washington courts emphasize consistency and stability for children, they only grant parenting plan modifications when the requesting parent can show they are warranted by a “substantial change in circumstances” that has occurred since the parenting plan was ordered.

There are 2 types of parenting plan modifications: major modifications (i.e. changes in the child’s primary residence) and minor modifications (i.e. adjustments that do not change the child’s primary residence). To get a major modification, a parent has to show: (1) the child has been integrated into his or her family as a result of significant deviating from the parenting plan; (2) risk of harm to the child in his or her current environment; or (3) that the other parent has been found in contempt twice within 3 years for not complying with the parenting plan. It is much easier to get a minor modification- which can be obtained based on reasons like involuntary changes in the parent’s work schedule or change of parent’s residence.

If both parents want to change the parenting plan and agree on how to modify it, the court can formally modify it as long as it is “in the best interests of the child.” Generally, this means a parent should only pursue a formal modification if he or she can’t work out a new schedule with the other parent.

To learn more about parenting plan modifications, contact a Kirkland family law attorney.