Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Child support

I'm a merchant seaman with large child support payments. I was told there was a Federal law preventing child support agencies from hassling me during bad seasons if I'm licensed. Is this true and if so where do I find a copy of the law? Washington state doesn't take into account the fluctuation of fishing seasons and when we have a bad season they empty my account instead of letting me make partial payments until I have money coming in. My xwife understands but Washington state doesn't care. Is there a way to get them off of my back??


Asked on 6/01/07, 1:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Elizabeth Powell ELizabeth Powell PS Inc

Re: Child support

Child support is managed by State law; I don't practice maritime, and you could be right. Use your query as a search term in Google and see what you find.

I have dealt with c/s in the context of a fisherman whose income varied wildly. The Court's order was to have him post a bond equivalent to two years of c/s and allow her to access it as necessary. It worked.

If your child support order requires withholding but your ex understands what the problem is and is willing to cooperate, the order of child support can be amended by agreement, and then DCS will have to back off.

There are several attorneys in Seattle who are gifted at this and can help you.

Call Doug Becker. You can find any attorney in the state at www wsba dot org under the lawyer directory section.

Hope this helps. Sorry I'm not up on federal statutes.

But I think this is a state law problem. Elizabeth Powell

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Answered on 6/01/07, 2:09 pm


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