UNMARRIED PARENTS

Many unmarried parents want to have a parenting plan entered by the Court in order to have an enforceable visitation schedule and rules in place. Child support may also need to be determined if there is no administrative child support order in place. The first step is to establish paternity. If there is no adjudicated father or Acknowledgment of Paternity filed with the Washington State Registrar of Vital Statistics, then an unmarried parent can file a Petition for Establishment of Parentage. It there is a valid Acknowledgment of Paternity on file, then an unmarried parent can file a Petition to Establish Residential Schedule. As in a divorce case, you may want to get a temporary parenting plan in place while waiting for your trial, in order to have a set visitation schedule. A temporary parenting plan can be entered through agreement or by filing a motion on the family law motions calendar.