Another legislative priority of the 2019 session should be updating state law regarding child support statues, as suggested as part of previous Child Support Schedule Workgroups. In 2017, HB 1603 would have provided residential credit to households with at minimum one night per week shared residential time. It initially passed the House by 96-1 in March 2017 but only the child support economic table changes eventually made it into law in 2018.

Current legislation filed in this session is HB 1050 which makes great progress in establishing an equal residential schedule as the default parenting plan. Financially, the courts and Department of Social and Health Services provide no forms or process for providing residential credit to the higher income household that has shared custody and provides a child support payment. This results in oversized child support payments and protracted litigation because the court is under no obligation to provide residential credit and often refuses to do so.

The 2019 Child Support Schedule Workgroup will begin monthly meetings in Tumwater on Jan. 25 to provide recommendations to the Legislature. Please contact the Workgroup at www.dshs.wa.gov/ (search for 2019 workgroup) and your local lawmakers to voice support for establishing equal residential time between parents with residential credit included in the child support calculations as the default positions of the law and courts. This will reduce the adversarial nature between parents, reduce litigation fees to get a fair parenting plan and child support agreement, and is in our children’s best interests.

James Clark

Lake Stevens