Columbia Family Divorce Law Blog

In a “best case” divorce scenario, both parents are friendly and amicable with one another, sharing parenting responsibilities and acting in their child’s best interest. Unfortunately, many divorces are not amicable, and parental alienation can result.

This blog discusses the law and procedure to obtain a court order declaring the validity of a marriage that was mistakenly entered into prior to the termination of another marriage. A decree of validity of marriage may resolve immigration issues that could arise in a deportation proceeding.

Domestic violence is defined in Washington State to include any form of violence, words or actions that convey a threat, blocking, stalking and cyberstalking. This Legal Guide discusses the concept of stalking as a form of domestic violence.

Most people know that there is a federal constitutional right to a jury trial. This right universally applies to all criminal cases, and most civil cases like personal injury, contract disputes, and so forth. However, the appellate courts (including the US Supreme Court) have ruled that the general federal right to a trial by one’s peers was not intended by the founders to apply to certain cases.

Please review my previous AVVO Legal Guides on Interstate Custody and the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA; in Washington State the statute is RCW 26.26). The UCCJEA provides that when a state in the US has previously entered a child custody determination, that state will continue to exercise jurisdiction until it waives or declines jurisdiction.

In this legal guide, the following topics are covered: independent custody investigations; nonparental custody when the parents are unfit; nonparental custody when the parents are not unfit; the best interests of the child; termination of parental rights; restrictions on visitation by the biological parents; domestic violence; and the definition of “parenting functions.”

There’s little doubt that divorce is far less stigmatized than it once was. In our grandparent’s generation, for instance, many couples likely stayed together for a lifetime not necessarily because they were happy but because they could not live with the embarrassment and judgment that divorce often caused.

A recent article addressed the issue of domestic violence affecting women in the state of Washington. Readers may not realize how common the problem of domestic violence is.

The Huffington Post has published its list of the “best” states for divorce. The state of Washington ranked fifth based on ease of filing and filing fee.

Whenever a Washington couple gets divorced, there are child custody, spousal support and other issues that must be worked out. When a same-sex couple gets divorced, those issues can be even more complicated.