Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Relocation/change in child support

I have custody of my 3 kids (15, 17 & 18) and am moving within the state but out of the school district. ALthough I have custody of all of the kids, my 15 year has chosen to live with her father. I have made arrangements for my other 2 kids to go out of the new district and remain in their school. My ex-husband has filed papers trying to stop my relocation, asking for full custody of my youngest and he went ahead and modified his own child support as of this morning. He refigured it himself and deposited less than the agreed upon amount. Can he do this?


Asked on 9/08/05, 11:34 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Ryan West Law Office of Ryan J. West

Re: Relocation/change in child support

No. He cannot modify the child support order without either your agreement or by a court order. Having said that, the most efficient thing to do would be to enter an agreed modified child support order that provides for your new residential situation (i.e., youngest with him, so he shouldn't be paying support to you for that child and instead you should be paying support to him for that child; this is called a "split custody" order). Since you've agreed that the 15 year old will reside with him, you can also file an agreed modified parenting plan to that effect. If you can't agree on the new child support payment amount, then you should file a petition with the court to have it modified. In the course of doing that you can also seek to have him held in contempt for non-payment or at least have the court settle the issue about his reduced payment on way or another.

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Answered on 9/08/05, 7:32 pm


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