Revised Code of Washington

The Washington State Legislature codified the dissolution proceedings in the Revised Code of Washington. We have provided the links below to the appropriate statutes relating to Washington State Dissolution.

We have also provided links to some of the Court forms you will need to prepare your own dissolution. Some might find this not the best business sense, but I disagree.

You can actually pull up all the documents you need to file your own dissolution from this page. However, bear in mind that you will spend hours and hours trying to figure out what goes where and then you get to sit in Court with everyone else who is trying to do it on their own and watch your case get thrown out because you didn't cross a 't' or dot an 'i'.

Remember, this is an emotionally charged time in your life and you may want to rely on a professional to be sure you don't suffer frustration.

It's up to you. You can pay a little bit of money to make your life convenient and get this unfortunate situation behind you or you can handle it on your own and get even more frustrated than you already are.

If you think you can navigate your way through the dissolution process, I admire your optimism, but I've also been there when I did my first dissolution case. They even gave me a law degree and a bar license to help me get through it. I spent hours and hours redoing the petition, trying to get it through the court. Finally, a clerk who knew I was a newbie, took me aside and introduced me to a seasoned family law attorney. I had my documents fixed in ten minutes and the case was over. I've gotten quite a bit more efficient at it since then.

You don't have the benefit of a clerk who knows you are a new attorney, or a law degree, or a license from the State of Washington to practice law. There is a lot of red tape to deal with and a lot of procedural issues to address. What forms do you use if you have children? What are the rules for deviation? Did you meet the residency requirement? Did the proper declaration get filed to address that issue? Was the joinder filled out properly? What is a joinder anyway? Are you moving? Will that affect residency issues? What about notice for taking the children with you?

Sure, you can do it on your own, and if you really think you can handle, I encourage you to try. Remember, we don't do contested cases and we won't clean up a case after it has been started. Our office only does uncontested petitions that are submitted through our website. It's a very streamlined practice and we're very good at what we do.