If you’ve ever been involved in a child custody dispute in Washington, you are probably familiar with, or have at least heard of the concept of “best interests of the child.” The best interests of the child standard is a Washington court’s primary and most important consideration when making decisions about children. Indeed, we’ve touched on the best interests standard in some of our previous articles about parenting. But just what does the “best interests” standard mean? In this series, we’ll take a look at some Washington cases that shed some light into what the “best interests” standard means, and how it works when applied to a specific family.
But first, let’s take a look at the Washington law that sets out the best interests standard, RCW 26.09.002:
Parents have the responsibility to make decisions and perform other parental functions necessary for the care and growth of their minor children. In any proceeding between parents under this chapter, the best interests of the child shall be the standard by which the court determines and allocates the parties’ parental responsibilities. The state recognizes the fundamental importance of the parent-child relationship to the welfare of the child, and that the relationship between the child and each parent should be fostered unless inconsistent with the child’s best interests. Residential time and financial support are equally important components of parenting arrangements.
The best interests of the child are served by a parenting arrangement that best maintains a child’s emotional growth, health and stability, and physical care. Further, the best interest of the child is ordinarily served when the existing pattern of interaction between a parent and child is altered only to the extent necessitated by the changed relationship of the parents or as required to protect the child from physical, mental, or emotional harm.
Another statute, RCW 26.09.180(3), addresses specific factors that a court should consider when determining what kind of custody arrangement serves any child’s best interests:
(a) The court shall make residential provisions for each child which encourage each parent to maintain a loving, stable, and nurturing relationship with the child, consistent with the child’s developmental level and the family’s social and economic circumstances… the court shall consider the following factors:
(i) The relative strength, nature, and stability of the child’s relationship with each parent;
(ii) The agreements of the parties, provided they were entered into knowingly and voluntarily;
(iv) The emotional needs and developmental level of the child;
(vii) Each parent’s employment schedule, and shall make accommodations consistent with those schedules.
The way that any one of the above factors will play out in any one custody dispute is as unique as each family that comes into the court. So, Washington courts have to make an intensive examination of the facts in every case in order to determine what kind of custody arrangement is in any one child’s best interests. The results of this examination are varied, and, occasionally, a bit surprising. We hope that this series will not only show you how the “best interests” standard operates in practice, but also dispel some myths about how the court’s make decision about child custody.
So, this series will take a close look at each of the factors that the court is supposed to consider, and discuss custody cases where those factors were in dispute. Next week we’ll take a look at some cases which address factor (i) the relative strength, nature, and stability of the child’s relationship with each parent.
