Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Divorce-Child Support

Child support is statutory and is based on your income - imputed if necessary - and his income.

His "feelings" are irrelevant; the State sets the amount.

What happens to the family home is not a child support issue, it is a property division issue. Generally speaking, the question of who will take the house is resolved in favor of the person who will have primary custody of the children, but sometimes not.

If you cannot afford the house payments because you are not working and you are home with little children, the court is going to conclude that you have a duty to provide support for the children and go get a job. Ugly, but true.

The Court isn't going to take a chain saw and divide your house in half. The Court is going to award part of the equity to the party who will no longer be residing in the house. Its more akin to a partition action than anything else.

Short answer is whether he can force you to sell depends on whether you need his support or not. If you can swing the mortgage yourself, you'll be okay, because child support can only stretch so far.

A court can order a house sold.

You might want to look into refinancing the house to have your own name on the mortgage anyway - that way if you can do it yourself he no longer has an interest in the property.

Hope this helps. Powell