Washington

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 70 out of 100

Washington lets the judge divide all property of either spouse, including separate property, and set maintenance amount and length without a formula. Fault is excluded from both, and each party may remove the assigned judge once without cause. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Washington ranks 19 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	20 / 20	The court disposes of all property and liabilities, community or separate, as appears just and equitable after considering listed factors, without regard to misconduct. RCW 26.09.080
Alimony	20 / 20	Maintenance is set in amounts and for periods the court deems just after considering listed factors, with no formula or cap. RCW 26.09.090(1)
Fault	0 / 20	Both property disposition and maintenance are decided without regard to misconduct. RCW 26.09.080, 26.09.090(1)
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	After considering the financial resources of both parties, the court may order a party to pay a reasonable amount toward the other’s costs and attorneys’ fees. RCW 26.09.140
Second opinion	10 / 20	Any party in a superior court action may disqualify the assigned judge once by filing a notice before the judge makes a discretionary ruling. RCW 4.12.050

Getting in

A 3-day wait. Apply to a county auditor. The license cannot be used until three days after the application and becomes void if the marriage does not occur within 60 days of issuance. The statute lists no waiver of the wait. A marriage entered on or after June 6, 2024 is void if either person is under 18.
RCW 26.04.010, 26.04.140, 26.04.160, 26.04.180; RCW 36.18.010(5); RCW 26.12.220

Who can marry you. Listed judges and court commissioners, active or retired, may officiate, as may any regularly licensed or ordained minister, priest, imam, rabbi or similar official of a religious organization. At least two witnesses must attend. The statute does not address online ordination and has no one-day or self-uniting route.
RCW 26.04.050, 26.04.070

Common-law marriage: Not available here. A couple cannot form a common-law marriage in Washington. Courts honor one validly formed in a state where it was lawful, and a statute treats a marriage valid elsewhere as valid in Washington unless it is bigamous or between close relatives. Courts can also divide property after a stable, marriage-like cohabitation, which is not a marriage.
In re Estate of Gallagher, 35 Wn.2d 512, 213 P.2d 621 (1950); RCW 26.04.020(3); Connell v. Francisco, 127 Wn.2d 339 (1995)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Washington is one of nine community property jurisdictions. Community property. What either of you earns during the marriage belongs to both of you as it’s earned, and it’s generally split in half at the end. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. Washington is a community property state. What either spouse acquires during marriage is community property; premarital property, gifts and inheritances, with their rents and profits, are separate. Earnings of spouses living separate and apart are separate. At divorce the judge can divide both community and separate property as is just and equitable, without regard to misconduct.
RCW 26.16.010, 26.16.030, 26.16.140, 26.09.080

An inheritance that touches a joint account

A judge can reach it either way. Putting an inheritance into a joint account does not by itself make it community property. It stays separate if its source can be traced, and it becomes community only if hopelessly commingled. Even traced separate property is before the court, because the judge may dispose of separate property in the divorce.
In re Marriage of Skarbek, 100 Wn. App. 444 (2000); In re Marriage of Schwarz, 192 Wn. App. 180 (2016); In re Estate of Borghi, 167 Wn.2d 480 (2009); RCW 26.09.080

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Both of you can be liable from the first dollar. Family expenses and the education of the children, including stepchildren, are chargeable on the property of both spouses or either of them, and the spouses may be sued jointly or separately. In this community property state, community property is also available for community debts.
RCW 26.16.205

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

Washington has no elective share. One-half of the community property is confirmed to the surviving spouse and the decedent may dispose of only the other half; one-half of quasi-community property (property acquired while domiciled elsewhere that would have been community property here) also belongs to the survivor.
RCW 11.02.070; RCW 26.16.030(1); RCW 26.16.220, 26.16.230

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

One look, under case law only. A court first asks whether the agreement is substantively fair to the spouse opposing it; if it is not, the agreement is enforced only if it is procedurally fair, meaning full disclosure of the amount, character and value of the property and entry into the agreement freely, on independent advice of counsel, with full knowledge of rights. Fairness is judged at execution, not at enforcement.
In re Marriage of Bernard, 165 Wn.2d 895 (2009); In re Marriage of Matson, 107 Wn.2d 479, 730 P.2d 668 (1986)

What an agreement needs. An agreement made upon consideration of marriage must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged. No statute requires notarization, witnesses or a waiting period for a prenup, but an agreement that is not substantively fair survives only with full disclosure and independent advice of counsel. A community property agreement taking effect at death must be in writing under both spouses’ hands and seals and witnessed and acknowledged like a deed.
RCW 19.36.010(3); In re Marriage of Bernard, 165 Wn.2d 895 (2009); RCW 26.16.120

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Support comes from a statewide table based on the parents’ combined monthly net income and is divided by each parent’s share. A new table took effect January 1, 2026. A court can extend support past 18 to finish high school. A judge may order college support, generally not past 23, but unless the order already provides for it, a parent must ask before the child turns 18.
RCW 26.19.020, 26.19.065, 26.19.080(1), 26.19.090, 26.09.170(3), (8)(b); In re Marriage of Cota, 177 Wn. App. 527 (2013); Balch v. Balch, 75 Wn. App. 776 (1994)

Moving away with a child. A parent with the child most of the time, or substantially equal time, must give 60 days’ notice by personal service or return-receipt mail. The other parent has 30 days to object. The move is presumed allowed unless the objector shows harm outweighs benefit. If each parent has at least 45 percent of the time, best interests decide instead.
RCW 26.09.430, 26.09.440, 26.09.450, 26.09.520, 26.09.525

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: no minimum. There is no minimum period. The filer must be a Washington resident, a member of the armed forces stationed there, or married to such a person. The rule does not depend on where the couple married or where the grounds arose.
RCW 26.09.030

How long it takes. One spouse can obtain a divorce by alleging that the marriage is irretrievably broken. The judge may proceed once 90 days have passed since both filing and service. If the other spouse denies the breakdown, the judge considers the circumstances and may enter the decree, or may refer the couple to counseling or continue the case up to 60 days.
RCW 26.09.030

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 90 days from arrival to a final decree (no residence period + 90-day wait from filing and service). Courts often take longer.

If you moved here from another state

The old state’s law labels property, and a judge here divides it. Washington classifies property under the law of the state where the couple lived when it was acquired, and in 1999 its Supreme Court used Idaho law for an Idaho account. A judge here can then divide all of the property as is just and equitable.
In re Marriage of Zahm, 138 Wn.2d 213 (1999)

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Washington and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Washington lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Washington” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.