Did you know this about Washington State divorce?

1.     In addition to attorney or online divorce service fees, you must pay a document filling fee with the court, typically totaling over $200.00. 

If you can’t afford the Court’s filing fee, you can work with an attorney to complete a waiver, or complete a waiver form yourself to request that the court waive this fee based on your financial circumstances.

2.     In Washington State, you can file for uncontested divorce in person or by mail. There are many free resources and online services that might help you prepare the paperwork.

However, one or both you will still be required to appear in court.

After you submit divorce papers (petition for divorce), state law requires you wait at least 90 days before a hearing with the court can be scheduled. This is also known as the “cooling off period”. Then one or both parties—ideally both—must appear in court.

Using an online service or trying to prepare your own divorce papers can get complicated. Contact me at (509) 670-8161 or Jason@warginlaw.com at any point in your process for help with forms or for divorce counsel.

3.      Collaborative divorce is a relatively new process that saves you time, cost, and extended, often painful processes. In a collaborative divorce, each party works with a team of attorneys and other professionals such as child counselors to reach agreement on property division, child care, custody, support, liabilities, and so on—before you file for divorce.

 When you opt to use the collaborative process, your divorce is treated by the court as an uncontested divorce.

This saves you the time, court appearances, depositions, witness testimonies, costly attorney fees and more that are required for a contested divorce. Your attorneys and specialists handle conflicts for you with your input, which can also help reduce the stress caused by dispute.

Contact me (509) 670-8161 for more information.