Seattle Family Law Firm News

Divorce and Family Relocation Trials:

 

In September, 2014 we tried a parenting plan action.  The parties had been separated for several years and did not have a formal parenting plan. They had a temporary parenting plan from 2011 that said the mother was the primary parent, but that case was dismissed without final orders.  We represented the father. The mother decided she was going to move the 7 year old child to Iceland.  The father tried resolve the issue through counseling without success. The mother continued to move forward with her plan to relocate the child to Iceland, including buying a home in Iceland, enrolling him in school and purchasing airfare. The father had different counsel when he filed a petition to enter a parenting plan and obtained an ex parte restraining order which restrained the mother from removing the child from the state of Washington at the last moment before she planned to leave.  The commissioner permitted the mother to temporarily relocate the child, but stayed that decision pending revision. The trial judge revised the order permitting the mother to relocate to Iceland pending trial and ordered that the child remain in Washington pending trial.  At trial, the court found that it was in the child’s best interests to remain in Washington.  The court ordered a 50/50 parenting plan if the mother chose to stay in Washington. If the mother chose to move to Iceland, the court ordered that the father would be the child’s primary parent. 

 

 

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