Here are some tips that can hopefully help you handle your child custody case in the most affordable manner. The good thing about child custody cases is that there are a ton of resources to help pro se litigants in those specific type of cases.
- Washingtonlawhelp.org
If you have a child custody case, and you have never been on washingtonlawhelp.org, now is the time to visit the website. This is a website created by Northwest Justice Project and is filled with helpful, easy to understand legal information.
For information on family law you simply click on family as shown below.
Next, you will be given a variety of family law topics and you can click on parenting plans/custody to be taken specifically to the page on child custody information. You can click on all of the various topics to find the one that best suits your situation.
Another way to utilize this website is through the search option. You can search the website for topics such as “modification” if you are looking to modify a parenting plan and it will give you the option for changing a parenting plan. On that specific topic, you will be given a do-it-yourself packet with the forms you need and even instructions on how to fill out the forms.
- Law Libraries
Sometimes, just reading the straight law is challenging. For example, you could go to RCW 26.09.191 and try to read about restrictions in parenting plans, and you may come away with more information about restrictions in parenting plans, or you may come away being even more confused.
One of the best ways to understand topics in the area of child custody is to go to your local law library, usually found in the courthouse in your area, and read a treatise about the law. What are treatises? These are secondary sources, not the law itself, that explain the law. They usually offer helpful case law to explain the area of law and are written by legal experts in the area.
Usually, these books are quite expensive to own. The good news for you is that law libraries often carry them for free. If your law library does not have the paper-copy, you can use a computer to search either Westlaw or Lexis for the particular type of treatise.
The two biggest treatises that will help you in the state of Washington when dealing with your custody dispute are: Washington Family Law Deskbook and Washington Lawyers Practice Manual Chapter 9 on Domestic Relations Practice.
These books can help you formulate arguments and have a better understanding of what to write on the forms you find under the first resource. However, these books won’t specifically help you with procedure. Washingtonlawhelp is a better resource for procedural aspects of your child custody case.
- https://www.courts.wa.gov/forms/
All of the required court forms you will need for your custody case can be found on https://www.courts.wa.gov/forms/.
This website will let you filter by specific type of law:
Once you click on the Family Law + it will give you a variety of topics as follows:
The headings are clickable, so you can click on “Petition to Change a Parenting Plan/Residential Schedule under Parenting Plan for example and be taken to the page with those forms:
This will then give you all the necessary forms with a word and PDF version of each. Please note that this provides more forms than you would need in certain cases, so make sure you check local rules and washingtonlawhelp or other sources for the correct forms you will need.
- Local rules
Each county has its own local rules. These rules are vital to how you proceed with your case. Not following these rules even with filing the proper forms can result in your case not being heard by a commissioner or judge.
While you probably don’t have to read all of the local rules if you are pursuing a family law custody matter, you should at the very least review all of the rules for family law.
Below is an example of the family law local rules in Snohomish County:
- A lawyer with unbundled services
Finally, as mentioned in a previous blog on this site, you can always get a lawyer to provide only the very specific services you need.
Perhaps you are able to use all of these resources to file, serve, and note hearing for your custody case, but you still need some coaching on hearings. You could have a lawyer assist with preparing you for your hearing at an a hourly rate.
Author:
Jordan Kostelyk
Attorney
www.everlastinglegalsolutions.com