Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Stepparent's responsibilities: My boyfriend has a 10 yo daughter from a previous relationship. He was never married to the mother, and he has never legally established paternity. There is no custody or support agreement in place, but he has been paying the mother unofficial "child support" for years. I have been encouraging him to get a formal child support agreement.

Question: does it make any difference if he files for child support BEFORE or AFTER we are married? I know that technically stepparrents' income should not be a factor, but I have heard that stepparents are responsible for supporting the child if the parent is unable to pay (unemployment, etc.). Can I be made responsible for back child support, if he cannot prove to the court that he has actually been paying?

Also, would it be useful or productive for me to get a prenuptial agreement to limit my obligations? I know you can't put in a prenup that the stepparent will not pay child support, but what about language like, "If the parent is unable to support his child and the stepparent covers his child support obligations, then he owes that money to the stepparent as a debt"?


Asked on 10/13/09, 10:40 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Christopher Steuart IT Forensics, Inc.

Whether he is married won't make any difference in calculating support obligations except at the point where his income was so low that he would drop into the $25.00 per month obligation under the needs category. As to whether he can prove support paid in the past, checks, receipts, etc would document it, and statements from mother that payments were made would be the same as receipts. A prenuptial agreement may be useful, I'd opt out of the community property presumption and add a provision similar to what you proposed. That would keep your estates separate until child support issues are no longer issues, and then you could opt into the community property arrangement if you wanted to.

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Answered on 10/18/09, 11:57 pm


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