Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Child Custody

I would need to know how long your son has been in Arizona and whether his absence from Washington is temporary (which is appears to be from the way you described his stay with your sister).

If a court deems your son to have moved permanently to Arizona and that this is his habitual residence, then it MAY turn out that Arizona courts have jurisdiction to hear the petition his father filed. You are going to need to consult both a Washington attorney and an Arizona attorney, since you are at the very least going to have to contest the Arizona court's jurisdiction based upon your son only visiting Arizona.

If you prevail in the Arizona court, then you can expect your son's father to bring the same action in a Washington court in which case you'll need to defend against his petition here.

I am not sure how the situation will play out, given your son's age and what you describe as bad influences as being the reason he left your home and somehow your sister became his legal guardian. Given what's at stake, you should immediately consult an Arizona attorney as well as local counsel here in Washington.

Re: Child Custody

This is a complicated situation, but the first piece of information I would need is: How long has your son been in AZ? If it is less than 6 months, you can argue that WA courts have jurisdiction (but you are going to have to do that in AZ or AZ and WA simultaneously, you may alternatively argue that the time in AZ was just temporary absence from WA). Your sister should appear and you should intervene (if this is important you will want to retain counsel in AZ and also in WA). The next questions I have: Is there a residential schedule or parenting plan in place? That plan-schedule may have provisions about requirements for mediation, but would also have provisions about child relocation that would have to be considered. There are to many questions that are open for me to have any sense about ultimate outcome at this time. I have previously successfully handled the WA end of a WA-AZ Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act case.