Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

If your mother signed a preliminary agreement with her ex-husband and all that remained was to put it into formal language to present as the final orders for the dissolution of her marriage to become final, then she can bring a motion to enforce a settlement agreement and enter final orders consistent with that agreement.

If her ex does not show up at the hearing, and the judge sees a signed agreement that is memorialized in the final papers, then the judge will sign off on the dissolution papers and the divorce will be final, regardless of whether the ex-husband appears at the hearing. If your mother does not have an attorney, I cannot advise you strongly enough of the need to have one to do this, to ensure everything goes as planned. To that end, if the case is in King, Pierce, or Snohomish Counties, I am happy to help.