Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Child custody

If I have this straight, the issue is whether the child should be with his mom's parent or his dad.

The answer is that Travis' Dad has the absolute right to be the residential parent so long as parentage has been established or he's prepared to establish parentage right now; Travis' dad has no impediments such as being incarcerated or a felony record.

This is a petition to modify a previous order (between Travis' parents) and the basis for the finding of adequate cause is her drug issue.

Before your boy goes ripping into the stability of the life of his son, see if they can do this by agreement.

Your son will be able to stop paying support for Travis to Travis' mom after the petition is filed, not before.

This is not self-help law. Contact the courthouse family law facilitator and get some help.

Best wishes with this - Powell

Re: Child custody

You've left out some significant information. Is there a paternity determination for Travis? The fact that Travis' father is paying child support would suggest that there is. Whether there is a parenting plan or residential schedule is the next question. Your description of the situation indicates that there may be a parenting plan or residential schedule already. But you have not directly addressed that. If there is a parenting plan or residential schedule are there restrictions? Depending on where this situation is in terms of legal procedure would affect the possible courses of action.