Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

It's time to hire a lawyer. I am sure there are good family law lawyers in the Spokane area. Make an appointment today.

I agree with Mr. Preble, it's time to get a good lawyer.

I fundamentally disagree with your starting premise that fathers are less likely to be granted primary custodial care of their children, just because they are men. There is nothing in the Revised Code of Washington that says anything like this. The fact is, in many situations, where the courts are making decisions with the best interest of the children in mind, and where more often than not men find themselves as the primary breadwinners, while the mother's are either not earning or have a demonstrated history of being stay-at-home parents, they wind up being the noncustodial parent. I can once remember being hired by a woman who worked no less than six days a week for 10 to 12 hour days as an investment banker. Her husband was a bus driver working 37 hours a week on the union contract. I had to explain to her that she would not be the primary residential parent, since the statutes are gender-neutral and do not favor women, and since she was the primary breadwinner while her husband was the one who primarily took care of the children, despite the fact that he worked nearly 40 hours a week himself. The fact that the husband performed the vast majority of parenting functions during the marriage, would be the deciding factor in that case. There was no way with her work schedule that she could remain the primary custodial parent.

Although this is purely anecdotal, in my experience, more and more, where both parents are expected to work full-time after divorce, and more judges are providing for 50-50 residential schedules that give each parent equal time. That's not always the case, but I notice it more now than before.

Given everything I just wrote as background information, what you wrote in your initial inquiry tells us that the mother of your children is incarcerated and therefore unable to care for them. On that basis alone, barring the court finding you to be an unfit parent, I do not see how you would not be awarded primary residential custody of your children for at least the period during which their mother is incarcerated. From there, depending on how long she is incarcerated, the children may continue to reside with you, with visitation to her once she gets out, or another arrangement that would transition the children back to their mother might be more appropriate. I would need to know more information.

There are no "slam dunks" in family law. However, what you have presented sounds like a compelling story, such that I'm not sure you would get anything other than primary residential care of your kids provided your case is properly presented to a court. Hence the advice, "it's time to hire a lawyer" from Mr. Preble. Good luck.