April 12, 2017 – Bains Law Firm
In contested family law cases
with children, emotions can run high and allegations plentiful if child custody
is an issue. When both parents are
seeking primary residential placement, or "custody" of the children, there
is often no shortage of harmful and hurtful allegations. Serving the best interests of the children
becomes excruciatingly difficult for the Court to resolve when the parents are
focused upon tearing each other down. As
such, when parenting abilities are an issue, the Court will often use a neutral
third party to investigate the children's circumstances, make parenting
recommendations, and sometimes even advocate on behalf of the child. Although
the Court has the power to interview the children directly, such occurrences are
quite rare. Every county in Washington state
follows their own procedures to assist the Court in determining the children's
best interests in difficult contested parenting matters.
For example, for parenting plan
issues arising in King County, there are a variety of tools for a Court
Commissioner or Judge to use to look into the children's actual
circumstances. The Court may appoint a
Guardian ad Litem, private parenting evaluator, or even use lower cost options,
such as Family Court Services or CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). Any of these methods can provide the Court
with very useful information regarding the children.
In Pierce County, the Court most
often relies upon a Guardian ad Litem to be appointed from a court-approved
registry. When a Court Commissioner or
Judge enters an Order authorizing the use of a Guardian ad Litem, three names
will be generated from the registry.
Each parent will have the opportunity to strike one of the names, and
the one name remaining will be appointed as the Guardian ad Litem.
The professional, whether it be a
Guardian ad Litem, parenting evaluator, or other type of parenting investigator,
will most often look at the Court filings, interview the parents, children and
other relevant witnesses, as well as review other pertinent evidence to assist
in generating a report and recommendations to serve the best interests of the
children. While the Court is not bound
to follow any such recommendations, oftentimes the input of such a professional
is very helpful to the Court's determination of custody and parenting
issues.
The statute below grants the
Court its authority to interview the children and/or appoint a professional to
look into the children's circumstances.
Parenting plans—Interview with child by court—Advice
of professional personnel.
The court may interview the child in chambers to
ascertain the child's wishes as to the child's residential schedule in a
proceeding for dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership, legal
separation, or declaration of invalidity. The court may permit counsel to be
present at the interview. The court shall cause a record of the interview to be
made and to be made part of the record in the case.
The court may seek the advice of professional
personnel whether or not they are employed on a regular basis by the court. The
advice given shall be in writing and shall be made available by the court to
counsel upon request. Counsel may call for cross-examination any professional
personnel consulted by the court.
Family
law litigation, particularly contested child custody matters, can be
emotionally difficult and complex. Decisions made about each step of the
litigation can affect you for many years. We have decades of experience helping
our clients through the difficulty of family law cases, including contested
parenting cases and can help you through the process. Contact us today at (253)
838 – 3377 or email at office@bainslawfirm.com, to talk about your case.
Disclaimer: All materials provided on this website have been
prepared by Bains Law Firm for general information purposes only and
no representation is made as to their completeness or accuracy. Information on
this website is not intended as legal advice, and may not be relied upon as
such. Only an attorney who can review the unique facts of each case and apply
them to the statutes, case law and court rules can provide legal advice.
Nothing in this website shall be construed to create an attorney-client
relationship.
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