What Can and Cannot Be Decided in the 90-Day Divorce Waiting Period?

By Chad Foster, Family Law Attorney · Updated September 11, 2026

The mortgage is due, the children need a workable schedule, and one spouse has moved out. Those problems need answers before a divorce is final. Washington's waiting period does not prevent the court from issuing temporary orders that organize the family's finances, housing, and parenting arrangements while the case proceeds. The Law Office of Chad Foster helps Snohomish County families with divorce, custody, and support. Financial strain during the waiting period may call for temporary support during divorce. When children need a workable schedule, consider a temporary parenting plan.

Orders that can address the waiting period

Financial

Support and household expenses

Ask for appropriate temporary relief while the case is pending.

Parenting

A workable interim schedule

Temporary parenting orders address the child's current needs.

Property and safety

Preserve assets and protect people

Targeted restraints can operate before the final decree.

Identify the Interim Problem You Need Solved

A useful request identifies a concrete problem and the order that would address it. For example, you may need temporary maintenance because one spouse has lost access to household income, a child-support order to divide the immediate financial burden, or clear rules about use of the home and payment of its expenses.

RCW 26.09.060 authorizes temporary maintenance, child support, and appropriate restraining relief while a dissolution case is pending. A motion for financial relief should explain the relevant facts and the amount sought. Bring financial records, a practical budget, and proposed terms that a judge can understand and enforce.

Put a Temporary Parenting Schedule in Writing

When parents cannot agree where the children will live during the case, a temporary parenting plan can set the residential schedule and other interim terms. RCW 26.09.194 addresses proposed temporary plans and the supporting declaration. Describe the children's routines, each parent's recent caregiving, and any facts affecting safety.

Ask for terms that address actual problems: school-night arrangements, exchanges, access to information, and decision-making. A request grounded in the children's needs is more useful than a demand for a particular percentage of time without a workable schedule. Existing safety orders and statutory limitations must be taken into account.

Protect Property and Personal Safety Through the Correct Order

RCW 26.09.060 allows restraints on transferring or concealing property, subject to statutory exceptions, and provides other interim protections. The court can also address temporary use of property. A temporary right to occupy the house does not decide who ultimately owns it or receives its value in the final division.

If you need emergency relief, explain the specific facts making notice or delay unsafe and use the proper procedure. An ordinary financial disagreement does not automatically justify an order without notice. Civil protection orders under chapter 7.105 RCW have their own requirements; identify whether the relief belongs in the divorce case, a protection-order proceeding, or both.

Understand What a Temporary Order Does Not Decide

RCW 26.09.060 provides that temporary orders do not prejudice the rights to be decided at later hearings. Temporary arrangements are enforceable, but they are not a promise that the final result will be identical. They can be modified or revoked, and ordinarily terminate when the final decree is entered or the petition is dismissed, subject to the statute's treatment of protection orders.

Spouses may negotiate and document a settlement during the waiting period. That is different from the court entering the dissolution decree. RCW 26.09.030 generally requires at least ninety days after both filing and service or the applicable joinder before the marriage can be dissolved. Do not assume the clock runs solely from filing, and do not assume day ninety is an automatic final hearing.

Prepare a Request the Court Can Act On

Gather the current orders, income records, recurring bills, proposed parenting schedule, and evidence supporting any requested restraints. Identify what you want the court to order, why it is needed now, and how the proposed terms would work. Follow the court's motion, service, and scheduling requirements; filing a divorce petition does not schedule every temporary request for you.

Temporary orders can govern family life for months. If you need help securing workable interim arrangements in a Snohomish County divorce, call the Law Office of Chad Foster at 425.785.8679.