Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

The scenario you describe sounds completely backward. In Washington, when a divorce occurs, the court starts with the presumption that everything you owned prior to the date of marriage and after the date of separation is separate property. Everything earned during the marriage, or debts accumulated during the marriage are community property.

Since you owned your home prior to the date of marriage, it is separate property. On that basis, your wife is not generally entitled to half the value of the home. That said, Washington courts do have the authority to award either a disproportionate share of community property to one spouse, and they have the authority to award the separate property of one spouse to the other if equity so requires.

In your case, with a relatively short term marriage, unless there is some extraordinary circumstances that I am not aware of, the proposal your wife's attorney has made sounds outrageous. It sounds as if you've been representing yourself up to this point. If so, spend the money to at least get local counsel to look at your situation in depth so that they can advise you properly with all the relevant information at hand.

Best of luck to you.