If you’ve got a parenting plan from a Washington Court, you’ve probably noticed a section which designates either you or your ex “as the custodian of the children solely for purposes of all other state and federal statutes which require a designation or determination of custody.” Although the paragraph goes on to say that the designation ” shall not affect either parent’s rights and responsibilities under this parenting plan,” if you’re the “non-custodial parent” you may have taken a moment to wonder whether this means that you’ve got fewer “parental rights” than the custodial parent.
The short answer is that this paragraph – Paragraph 3.12 on almost all parenting plans – has no meaningful effect on most parent’s rights.
RCW 26.09.285, a section of Washington’s domestic relations statute, requires that all parenting plans designate the parent with whom the children live most of the time as the custodial parent for the “purposes of all other state and federal statutes” that require such a designation. So, which other statutes are we talking about?
RCW 26.09.285 doesn’t say. However, in a 2004 opinion, the Washington Court of Appeals, Division III noted that:
The “state and federal statutes” likely referred to in RCW 26.09.285 include the Food Stamp Program, 7 U.S.C. § 2015; the Criminal Code (Kidnapping), 18 U.S.C. § 1204; federal regulations issued on Veterans’ Benefits, 38 C.F.R. 3.24, 3.57, and 3.850; Social Security, 42 U.S.C. § 1396r-la; and Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention – Missing Children, 42 U.S.C. § 5773 and § 5775.
In re Marriage of Kimpel, 122 Wn. App 729 (2004). All of the above statutes, most of which relate to either a parent or child’s eligibility for certain state or federal benefits (such as food stamps or veteran’s pensions and other veteran’s benefits), or enforcement of laws regarding kidnapping and runaway children, make reference to a child’s “custody” or “custodian.”
Note, however, that with the exception of Paragraph 3.12, Washington parenting plans do not use the term “custody” in setting out where and with whom a child lives. This is so because when the Washington State legislature enacted the the Parenting Act of 1987 (the act which set forth all of the requirements for the determination and format of a parenting plan), the legislature intended to eliminate the concept of “physical custody” from the determination of a child’s residential schedule. However, because there are some other state and federal laws that continue to designate one parent as “custodian” of the child, Paragraph 3.12 makes that designation only for the purposes of those other laws.
In short, you should probably not fret if you are not designated as the custodian under Paragraph 3.12. As the paragraph explicitly states: “this [designation] shall not affect either parent’s rights and responsibilities under this parenting plan.” What this means it that the custodial parent under the plan has no greater or more powerful “rights” to your children than you do.
Please note that the above article should not be considered legal advice. If you have any concerns about how RCW 26.09.285 might affect you or your child, you should seek personalized advice from an attorney. Please also see our general disclaimer.
