Washington State Dissolution

Many years ago, I practiced in the area of family law. Handling dissolutions, child custody modifications, and other proceedings like contempt motions. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost. But I always noticed the same thing - whether I won the case or lost, the result was the same. My client walked out of court with the realization that their marriage was over, the other parent would no longer be involved in their life, and their children would be dramatically affected by the outcome, not of the trial, but of the end of the marriage.

It grated on me terribly. I like my clients to be happy at the end of the case. I tried collaborative divorce for a while, but attorneys are who attorneys are and when you tell us to represent somone zealously, we do so. More often than not, the collaborative divorce that was supposed be an easy mediation turns into a knock down drag out fight.

In the end, I realized that the only true way to reach an amicable divorce was to give the two parties some general guidelines and let them work it out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But when the two parties can reach their own resolution, the benefit is much greater. Parents can manage to get along after a divorce. The children don't hate the other parents and children aren't used as tools to manipulate the other party.

In any dissolution, three things are dealt with in the court proceeding. The division of debts, the division of assets, and the division of the children (commonly known as a parenting plan).

We have created an online form that allows you to fill out the requested information and provide answers to certain questions. We recommend you print out the page first so you can fill in the information online after you have negotiated things with your spouse. We provide some general guidelines and make some general suggestions, but what you negotiate is up to you.

Once you have worked out the terms, you can fill in the online form and click on the 'submit' button. This will take you to the payment page where you will pay for your divorce case processing.

We will process your case and send you back the documents via email with indications of where to sign for both you and your spouse. At this time, you will make any revisions you deem necessary and we will correct the forms. If the forms need no revision, you and your spouse will sign and return the package of forms to us. If their are corrections, we will send them back to you for signatures.

Once the documents have been signed, and you have paid your filing fee, we will file the case with the Court. It will take approximately 90 days to finalize your divorce. We will return the finalized documents to you and you will be divorced according to the terms of your dissolution order!

It is fairly straighforward and simple.

Our fee includes everything you need for the basic divorce. The petition, parenting plan, child support worksheets, findings of fact and conclusions of law, as well as the final decree. If there are additional forms necessary, for example, a qualified domestic relations order through your employer or retirement program, additional fees will apply.

Click on the pdf icon to the right to download the printed forms. We recommend you fill these out first before going to the online submission. The pdf form is a practice form for you to fill out and work out the details with before you fill in the online form.

When you are ready to fill out the online forms, click on the 'Start' button below and you will download the dissolution questionairre.