Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Here are answers to you question in the order they were asked:

1. You need to file a motion for temporary orders to deal with who gets what money until the dissolution of your marriage is finalized.

2. You need to file a motion for a temporary parenting plan to set up custody and visitation arrangements pending finalization of your dissolution of marriage.

3. So long as you have not commingled the funds in your 401(k) or if they are traceable such that we can determine what was added or deducted since the date of marriage, then that which you earned prior to the date of marriage and after the date of separation is your separate property and everything earned during the marriage is community property, meaning she gets half of that portion.

4. This is hard to answer. I don't see her getting you thrown in jail without some evidence to support any accusations. I would need more information to answer this question.

5. Cheating does not matter since this is a no fault state. Both of you can cheat as much as you want. The only time it would ever effect anything is if you spend significant community assets on the mistress or if it affects your ability to parent the children, such as having sex with strangers with kids nearby. Otherwise, cheating is not really taken into consideration.

6. Probably not.

7. No. I don't see how you'd be accused of money laundering. That said, I usually advise against doing this type of thing, just because it can come back to bite you later in the dissolution. Before you do anything like this, make sure you have advice of counsel and if possible, an agreed order allowing you to do this.

1. The court will make a determination of what is community and separate property and make a "fair and equitable distribution." If you are concerned about the interim situation you should file a motion for temporary orders with or immediately after filing for divorce.

2. The court typically bases it decision about primary residence on who was the primary caregiver over the relationship, with consideration given to other factors. These factors can affect what kind of residential schedule will be ordered.

3. Yes. But facts of the case would affect the probabilities of how that asset would be addressed, including length of the marriage.

4. I don't know. This is affected by specific facts of the case. A question that comes to me from this item was: Were you convicted of some crime? If so. what was it? Was a DV protection order entered?

5. Emotionally significant, but legally probably irrelevant unless the men are dangerous.

6. This is a question only you and your spouse can answer. If either of you says the marriage is "irretrievably broken," it is.

7. It may not look good in other contexts, but it is not criminal. The best mechanism to address this is to file a motion for temporary orders and ask for a remedy that addresses the money (do it right along with the filing for dissolution of marriage), then if she takes money out (in excessive amounts) after the motion is filed you can argue that she was cleaning you out and the court may order to disgorge money.