Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Can cohabiting with girlfriend cost him his time with his kids?

What parents do in their time when they don't have the children is really up to them. How they choose to live is up to them as well. Grown persons generally do establish new relationships after the end of a marriage.

What a court would do is very fact specific. If you (girlfriend) were a convicted child abuser and running a meth lab, then yes, a court could say that the kids should not be around you. If that isn't the case, then the likelihood that a court would require that his residential time occur elsewhere starts to diminish.

Courts are not nearly as concerned with personal moral issues of parents as they are with the best interests of the children. Part of that is spending quality residential time with each parent, on a regular and frequent basis. Parents have rights to their relationships with their children.

A court could reduce her parenting time and increase his time if the court belived that she was unilaterally withholding his time. Courts get upset with parents who use the children as weapons to control the other parent.

Hope this helps. Remember, advice here is only as good as the facts you provide. Elizabeth Powell