Which State Decides Child Custody If We Just Moved to Washington?

You unloaded the truck in Bothell six weeks ago, enrolled the kids at their new school, and then a process server handed you a custody petition filed back in the state you left. Or the reverse: you got here first, you want a parenting plan entered in Snohomish County, and you are being told you have to wait. Either way, the fight is not yet about who gets which weekend. It is about which state's judge is allowed to decide anything at all.

For related help, see family-law help, Washington parenting-plan guide, and child-support guide.

Washington answers that through the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, adopted here as chapter 26.27 RCW. Nearly every state has a version of it, for a reason: the law exists so two judges in two states do not enter conflicting parenting plans for the same child.

Which State Is the "Home State"?

Almost everything in an interstate custody dispute turns on one defined term. Under RCW 26.27.021, a child's "home state" is the state where the child lived with a parent, or a person acting as a parent, for at least six consecutive months immediately before the custody case was filed. For a baby under six months old, it is the state the child has lived in since birth. Short trips do not reset the clock: the statute treats a period of temporary absence as part of the six months.

RCW 26.27.201 then makes home state status the first and strongest basis for entering an initial custody order. A Washington court can act when Washington is the child's home state on the day the case is filed. The count runs backward from the filing date, not from today. Six months and one day after the moving truck pulled up, Washington becomes the home state, and the calendar does much of the legal work for you.

We Just Moved Here. Can I File in Snohomish County Right Away?

Usually not, and this is where new arrivals get blindsided. RCW 26.27.201 also contains the extended home state rule: the old state keeps home state status for six months after the child leaves, as long as a parent or person acting as a parent still lives there. If you moved from Arizona to Everett in March and the other parent is still in Arizona, Arizona remains the home state through roughly September. A petition filed there in that window is proper, and Snohomish County Superior Court is not the place to answer it.

There is a narrower back door. Under RCW 26.27.201, a Washington court can take an initial case when no state qualifies as the home state, or the home state court has declined in favor of Washington, and the child and at least one parent have a significant connection with Washington beyond mere physical presence, and substantial evidence about the child's care, protection, training, and personal relationships is available here. That path matters most for rootless families: a child who has bounced between three states in a year may have no home state at all. It is not a shortcut for a family that clearly just left one state for another.

The same section says these grounds are the exclusive jurisdictional basis for a Washington custody determination, and that physical presence of a parent or child is neither necessary nor sufficient. Having your child here does not, by itself, give a judge authority to enter a parenting plan. Divorce residency is a separate question: a Washington court can sometimes dissolve your marriage while lacking authority over your parenting plan. See the Washington residency requirements for filing a divorce.

So the first six months after a move are a waiting period in which the state you left holds the cards. If the other parent files there, your recourse is to appear in that case, not to open a competing one here. A second petition in Snohomish County does not create leverage. It creates a problem you will pay a lawyer to unwind.

What If There Is Already a Custody Order from Another State?

A stricter rule controls. Under RCW 26.27.211, the state that entered the original determination keeps exclusive continuing jurisdiction over it, and holds the case until one of two things happens: a court of that state determines the child and the child's parents no longer have a significant connection with it and substantial evidence concerning the child's care is no longer available there, or a court of either state determines that the child, the child's parents, and any person acting as a parent no longer presently reside in that state.

The difference between those exits decides many cases. Only the original state's own judge can make the significant connection finding. But once everyone has moved out of the issuing state, a Washington judge can make that determination without waiting for permission. Where both parents relocated to the Puget Sound region and nobody was left behind, that second exit often opens quickly.

Can a Washington Court Change Another State's Parenting Plan?

Only on the conditions in RCW 26.27.221. A Washington court may modify another state's determination when Washington would have jurisdiction to make an initial determination under RCW 26.27.201, and either the issuing state's court determines it no longer has exclusive continuing jurisdiction or that Washington is the more convenient forum, or a court of either state determines that the child, the child's parents, and any person acting as a parent do not presently reside in the issuing state. Both halves have to be satisfied. Being the home state now is not enough if the old state still has an interest and a parent living there.

What If My Child Is in Danger Right Now?

RCW 26.27.231 gives a Washington court temporary emergency jurisdiction when the child is present in this state and has been abandoned, or when emergency action is necessary to protect the child because the child, or a sibling or parent of the child, is subjected to or threatened with abuse. A judge in Everett can act on that basis even when Washington is not the home state.

The critical word is temporary. With no prior determination and no case pending elsewhere, an emergency order lasts until a court with real jurisdiction acts, and it can become final if Washington later becomes the home state. If a prior order or pending case does exist, the judge must specify a period adequate to obtain an order from the state that actually has jurisdiction, and the emergency order expires at the end of it. The statute also directs the Washington court to immediately communicate with the other state's court. Emergency jurisdiction is a bridge, not a destination. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.

What If Both of Us Filed, in Two Different States?

RCW 26.27.251 resolves that standoff with a first-in-time rule and judicial coordination. A Washington court may not exercise jurisdiction if a custody proceeding was already commenced in another state having jurisdiction, unless that proceeding is terminated or stayed because Washington is the more appropriate forum. Before entering anything, the Washington judge must examine the parties' filings, and on learning of the other case, stay the proceeding here and communicate with the other court. If the other state decides it should go forward, the Washington case is dismissed.

That communication is not informal chatter. RCW 26.27.101 lets judges in two states confer directly, allows the parties to participate, and requires a record of the substantive communications, with the parties promptly informed and given access to it. If the parties cannot participate, they must have the opportunity to present facts and legal arguments before the jurisdictional decision is made. RCW 26.27.111 separately allows out-of-state testimony by deposition, telephone, or audiovisual means, so a parent in another state rarely has to fly here.

Can Washington Turn the Case Down Even If It Has Jurisdiction?

Yes, in two ways. Under RCW 26.27.261, a court with jurisdiction may decline it after finding Washington is an inconvenient forum and another state's court is more appropriate. The factors include whether domestic violence has occurred and is likely to continue and which state can better protect the parties and the child, how long the child has lived outside Washington, the distance between the two courts, the parties' relative financial circumstances, any agreement about where the case should be heard, the nature and location of the evidence including the child's testimony, each court's ability to decide expeditiously, and each court's familiarity with the facts.

The second way is not discretionary. RCW 26.27.271 says that where a Washington court has jurisdiction only because the person invoking it engaged in unjustifiable conduct, the court shall decline to exercise it, subject to narrow exceptions. Taking a child across the country to manufacture a home state is the textbook example. The statute also directs the court to assess necessary and reasonable expenses, including attorney fees, against that party unless doing so would be clearly inappropriate. Self-help relocation can cost you the case and the fees at once. If you are considering a move, see my article on moving out of state with your child.

What Do I Have to Tell the Court About Where My Child Has Lived?

More than most people expect. RCW 26.27.281 requires each party, in the first pleading or an attached affidavit, to state under oath the child's present address or whereabouts, every place the child has lived during the last five years, and the names and present addresses of the people the child lived with. You must also disclose any other custody proceedings you have participated in, any other case that could affect this one including protection order and adoption matters, and anyone else claiming custody or visitation. If the information is not furnished, the court may stay the proceeding, and the duty to inform continues throughout the case. Where disclosure would jeopardize health or safety, the statute provides for sealing that information.

That five-year residence history is what a judge reads first in a case like yours. Fill it out carefully. It is sworn, and it often decides the jurisdictional question.

How Do I Enforce an Out-of-State Order in Washington?

You register it. RCW 26.27.441 lets you send the court a letter requesting registration, two copies of the determination including one certified copy, a sworn statement that it has not been modified to your knowledge, and the names and addresses of the parties. The court files it as a foreign judgment and serves notice on the other parent, who has twenty days after service to request a hearing contesting registration. The grounds are limited: the issuing court lacked jurisdiction, the order was later vacated, stayed, or modified, or the contesting party did not get proper notice. Without a timely challenge, registration is confirmed as a matter of law, and anything that could have been raised then is precluded later.

When a child is being withheld and you cannot wait, RCW 26.27.471 provides expedited enforcement. You file a verified petition with a certified copy of the order, and the court orders the other parent to appear, with or without the child. The hearing must be held on the next judicial day after service unless that is impossible, in which case the first judicial day possible. If the respondent does not appear or cannot establish one of the narrow defenses, the court orders that you may take immediate physical custody of the child, plus fees, costs, and expenses. That is fast relief by family law standards, because interstate withholding cases cannot wait on an ordinary motion calendar.

Does This Also Decide Child Support?

No, and conflating the two causes real problems. Chapter 26.27 RCW governs custody, residential schedules, parenting plans, and visitation. Child support jurisdiction runs on a separate law, the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, adopted here as chapter 26.21A RCW, with its own continuing exclusive jurisdiction rules that do not move in lockstep with the custody rules. Washington can become the right state for your parenting plan while the old state keeps authority over support, or the reverse. The two questions get answered separately.

Getting the Jurisdiction Question Right the First Time

Jurisdictional mistakes get unwound rather than fixed. An order entered by a court that lacked authority can be attacked years later, leaving you with a case that produced nothing durable. The analysis itself is largely mechanical: identify the filing date, count back six months, find out who still lives in the old state, and check whether a prior order exists.

If you have recently moved to Snohomish County with your children, or your child's other parent has moved away with them, I can review the dates and the existing orders and tell you which state's court has authority to act. Call the Law Office of Chad Foster at 425.785.8679.