Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Signing a check

Your fact pattern raises several questions: Had he allowed you to do this before? Did you intend to divorce at the time you wrote the checks? Was the source of the account his income? Did you have an agreement as to whose money it was in his account?

The first thing I would do is pay him back the money in full. (Write a check so you have proof of payment, or get a money order and make a copy of it before you give it to him.) If the account was comunity property, make the adjustment for your half in the final papers.

If he had allowed you to do this in the marriage, you probably have a good defense to any criminal action, and I doubt if any prosecutor would take the case. If he hadn't allowed this in the past, your repayment of the money may solve your potential criminal difficulty. If he hadn't allowed it and you knew you were going to separate when you wrote the checks, don't tell ANYbody but your attorney. The key to forgery is "intent to injure or defraud".

There may be some risk of criminal liablity, but child custody is a different issue. You, and perhaps your child, are probably best-served by hitting the matter head on and going for custody yourself.

The forgery statute is at http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?fuseaction=chapterdigest&chapter=9A.60

Re: Signing a check

There is no specific exemption for a wife signing (forging) a husband's signature, but course of action may address the intent issue (lack of intent affects criminal liability) and may affect a prosecutor's willingness to prosecute, factors that could be considered are if you had previously signed your husband's name on checks and he had the opportunity to know that you had signed his name and he had not taken action or objected previously. If you had never signed his name on a check before you may have more of a problem and I would encourage you to pay the money back; I'd recommend a certified check and certified mail (or delivery by a person who will attest to the delivery of the check and correspondence (to generate a record of the repayment). To read the forgery statute visit: http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?section=

9A.60.020&fuseaction=section. Another consideration is that even if you were convicted you would be unlikely to spend more than a few weeks in jail (in all likelihood you may have no jail time), and the conviction would have little effect in a child custody determination.

His use of a threat to obtain some benefit or deprive you of something (child custody)may have created his own criminal liability under the extortion statute. To read the extortion statute visit:

http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?section=

9A.56.120&fuseaction=section

http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?section=

9A.04.110&fuseaction=section.

The use of threats (extortion) in attempting to compel a resolution of child custody would probably have more effect in child custody determination than would forgery. The challenge may be to prove up the threats. The use of threats is a dangerous business (and you should not do it either). Because of the intensity and complexity level of your situation, you should seriously consider having a lawyer assist you.