December 2016

What Happens to Child Support when your Ex goes to Jail?

Youth Incarceration

The Youth First Initiative, a national advocacy campaign, is seeking to end incarceration of youth by closing youth prisons and investing in community-based alternatives. The Initiative believes that the system of incarcerating youth is so beyond repair that is does not need mere improvement but …

How do Children see Step-parents?

The Hidden Divorce Professional: Pediatricians

Last month we came to you with a guide to selecting divorce professionals, but there is one divorce professional that may have been surprisingly overlooked: your child’s pediatrician. According to Health line Pediatricians can often be on the front lines of helping children cope with stressful si…

Crisis in Child Welfare

Crisis in Child Welfare

One of the biggest crises in the child welfare system is caseworker turnover. Many involved families have ten or more new workers through the life of their case. According to Crosscut, turnover is around 20 percent a year in Washington State and has been as high as 30 percent in King County (almo…

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Practical Guide to Grandparent Rights for Visitation in Washington

Wonderful grandparents can make an enormous impact in the lives of their grandchildren. Arguably, it is in the child’s best interest to have visitations with their grandparents, and the grandparents have an interest in maintaining their relationship with their grandchildren. The Washington Legisl…

Parental Alienation: How to Help a Polarized Child

Parental Alienation: How to Help a Polarized Child

Parental alienation occurs in high-conflict divorce, where the child is caught between two fighting parents and made to choose sides. While every divorce, every family, and every child is unique there are some universal recommendations for helping the polarized child form and maintain healthy rel…

The 5 C’s of Conflict Communication

The 5 C’s of Conflict Communication

As Family Law Attorneys who believe strongly in reducing conflict we are constantly looking out for recommendations for our clients regarding their communication skills. Even where a relationship may be over, clients may still face co-parenting in a relationship where tensions run high.
Lisa Ga…

Who Pays the Student Loan after Divorce?

Who Pays the Student Loan after Divorce?

This will likely not come as a surprise; I am a family law attorney and as a lawyer I attended law school… and piled on plenty of student loan debt to do so. But you don’t have to be a lawyer to understand that more and more students are graduating under enormous financial burdens associated with…

Conscious co-parenting – from the eyes of a 19 year old (Child of divorce)

What Trump Presidency Means for Birth Control – Guest Blogger

There has been a great deal of conversation in recent weeks about the impact of the new Trump administration on birth control in the United States. While much of the panic is warranted, it is important to understand the real threats facing birth control access rather than being overwhelmed by fea…