Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Moving with no seperation or dissolution

Failing agreement between the two of you, it will be difficult to resolve this outside of dissolution of marriage (divorce in Washington) process. If you were doing the dissolution of marriage, you could do a motion for temporary orders and address the move before your dissolution was final, and get a temporary resolution (that is not to say it would necessarily be the resolution you want). The facts of the situation would control the court's decision on whether to grant a relocation over the other parent's objection. The law provides eleven non-weighted factors for the courts to consider.

(1) The relative strength, nature, etc of relationships with persons in the child's life;

(2) Prior agreements of the parties;

(3) Weighing the relative disruption of relationships;

(4) Whether a parent is subject to limitations;

(5) The reasons for seeking or opposing relocation and good faith of the parties;

(6) The age, development, and needs of the child, and impact the relocation or its prevention has on the child's development, also considering special needs of the child;

(7) The quality of life, etc. available to the child and relocating party in the current and proposed geographic locations;

(8) Availability of alternative means to continue child's relationship with the other parent;

(9) Alternatives to relocation and whether feasible and desirable for both parties to relocate;

(10) The financial impact and logistics of the relocation or its prevention; and

(11) For a temporary order, the amount of time before final decision can be made at trial.