Unmarried partners
When unmarried partners have children and then separate, their relationships can become very difficult. They were not married, so they do not need to petition for divorce. However, their rights and responsibilities with respect to their children will be unclear without court orders. In these cases, we represent clients in paternity actions (which are known in Washington as parentage actions) in which the father-child relationship is confirmed and a parenting plan and order of child support will be entered by the court.

Unmarried couples´ rights and responsibilities regarding property and debt are not well defined in Washington. One person may have no right in the other person´s property and no responsibility for the other person´s debt. However, if a meretricious relationship exists, the rights and responsibilities may be almost the same as a married couple. A meretricious relationship is similar to the concept of common law marriage that is recognized by many states. In other cases, there are equitable principals that support a property division.