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Family Law

Family Law. Breakup of marriage, property and custody. What is Family Law?. An area of law dealing with family and domestic issues, like: Marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships Domestic violence and abuse Adoption, surrogacy, legitimacy

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Family Law

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  1. Family Law Breakup of marriage, property and custody

  2. What is Family Law? • An area of law dealing with family and domestic issues, like: • Marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships • Domestic violence and abuse • Adoption, surrogacy, legitimacy • Termination of family relationships (divorce, annulment, property settlements, alimony, child support, custody, visitation rights)

  3. Dissolution of Marriage • In Washington, divorce is called dissolution of marriage • The governing law is RCW 26.09 • Washington is a no-fault divorce state • This means you do not have to show anything more than irreconcilable differences

  4. Ending the marriage • File dissolution petition with the court • Wait 90 days • Get a final dissolution decree (3 ways): • Both parties agree to it • Both argue in front of the judge, who enters a judgment • Default decree entered (no one argues)

  5. Dissolution Decree • Ends the marriage • Decides the following matters: • marital property and debt allocation • Custody rights • Child support • Spousal maintenance • Restraining orders

  6. The Property • Dividing up the marital property, (i.e. who gets what)

  7. What is marital property? • Marital Property is property of the marriage, often it includes: • Real property: houses and land • Personal property: boats, cars, art • Financial assets: cash, stocks, bonds • Future interests: pensions, retirement funds • Contractual rights • Question: Who does this belong to when the marriage ends? • Answer: It depends

  8. Community Property • In WA, most of the assets are Community Property • Each spouse is regarded as contributing to the wellbeing of the community and equally shares in the financial wellbeing of the marriage • Each spouse has a ½ interest in any property acquired by the marital community • 9 community property states: • Washington • California • Texas • Louisiana • New Mexico • Wisconsin • Idaho • Arizona • Nevada • Alaska (can choose community property)

  9. Community Property • Most money coming into the marriage is community property, this includes: • salaries and compensation • Windfalls • Sale of community property • Interest and rent income

  10. Marital Community Wife’s Salary Husband’s Salary Wife’s Labor Husband’s Labor

  11. Community and Separate Property • Strong presumption that property acquired during marriage is community property • However, some property is SEPARATE property • This is property that belongs to a spouse individually

  12. Separate Property • Property held by a person before the marriage • Property received as a gift or inheritance by a person • Rents and profits from separate property remain separate property

  13. Mixed Property • Of course, property will get mixed together, and this becomes mixed property • For example, a person may buy a house, then get married, and the make payments after the marriage using income from their salary (which is now community property). • Usually a court will proportion this property • Basically divide it up according to whether the money used to pay for it was community or separate

  14. Mixed Property • Mixed property can cause funny things to happen • For example, a husband is injured in car accident and wins an award of 200,000 dollars (100,000 for lost wages, and 100,000 for pain and suffering) • The 100,000 for lost wages is community property • The 100,000 for pain and suffering is the separate property of the husband

  15. Property and Dissolution • When the marriage ends, each spouse gets: • Separate property • ½ community property • However, judges have DISCRETION, and can equitably distribute property, giving one spouse more or less than ½ community property • For example, if one spouse never worked and gambled away all the money, the court may award that spouse less than ½ community property

  16. Community Property and Unmarried Couples In WA, we allow for committed intimate relationships • Relationship must be stable and marital-like, court will look at: • Duration of relationship • Cohabitation • Pooling of resources • Intent of parties • Purpose of the relationship • Court will use equitable powers to distribute property based on community property principles

  17. Unmarried couples: • However, Washington does not recognize common law marriages, • (unmarried couple living together like a married couple, same as a committed intimate relationship) • So when distributing property at the end of the relationship, the court will use of the community property principles • BUT, parties do not get any other marital rights (like rights to retirement funds, pensions or health care) • This is to promote public policy of encouraging people to marry

  18. The Kids • What happens to the kids?

  19. Custody • “In any proceeding between parents… the best interests of the child shall be the standard by which the court determines and allocates the parties' parental responsibilities.” RCW 26.09.002 • This means that a court will consider the best interests of the child in deciding custody rights

  20. What are best interests? • The best interests of the child are served by a parenting arrangement that best maintains the child’s: • Emotional growth • Health • Stability • Physical care

  21. What are best interests? • The best interest also means maintaining the existing interaction between parent and child as much as possible • The parent child relationship is altered only: • to extent necessitated by the changed relationship of the parents • or to protect the child from physical, mental, or emotional harm • RCW 26.09.002

  22. Who are the parents? • Only legal parents have custody rights • Legal parents are: • Natural parents • Adoptive parents

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