USA – WASHINGTON Trends and Developments Contributed by: Stacy Heard, The Law Office of Stacy D. Heard
Washington Child Relocation in 2026: What Hauk Means for Parents With Phased Parenting Plans Introduction Relocating with a child is one of the most consequen - tial decisions a parent can make after separation or divorce. A move may be driven by a new job, more affordable housing, remarriage, family support or oth - er legitimate needs. At the same time, moving a child away from the other parent can change school rou - tines, travel arrangements, holidays and the amount of time that parent can spend with the child. Washington’s Child Relocation Act provides a struc - tured process for resolving these disputes. One of the most important questions is whether the parents have “substantially equal residential time”. If they do, the usual statutory presumption favouring relocation does not apply. The Washington Supreme Court’s August 2026 deci - sion in In re Marriage of Hauk and Wuesthoff is particu - larly important because it clarifies how courts should answer that threshold question when a parenting plan changes over time. The Court held that residen - tial time is measured when the relocation notice is served, using the phase of the parenting plan then in effect. A court should not project the child’s residential schedule years into the future and use those future arrangements to determine whether the relocation presumption applies. For parents and practitioners, Hauk provides a practi - cal rule that can be stated simply: when a parenting plan is phased, the residential-time calculation for the relocation presumption is based on the schedule that exists when relocation is proposed, not on the sched - ule the child may have years later. Why residential time matters in a relocation case Washington’s relocation statute does not treat every relocation case identically. In an ordinary case, the parent proposing to relocate benefits from a rebut - table presumption that the relocation should be per - mitted. The parent opposing the move may rebut that presumption by showing that the detrimental effect of relocation outweighs its benefits to the child and the relocating parent.
There is an important exception. Under RCW 26.09.525, the relocation presumption does not apply when the parents have substantially equal residential time. The statute generally treats each parent having at least 45% of the child’s residential time as falling within that category. That threshold can therefore affect the starting posi - tion of the case. If one parent has less than 45% of the child’s residential time, the relocating parent may have the benefit of the statutory presumption. If both parents have at least 45%, the case proceeds without that presumption. The distinction is significant because residential time is not always as straightforward as counting the num - ber of nights on a calendar. Parenting plans can con - tain different schedules as children grow older, spe - cial arrangements for school breaks and holidays, and circumstances in which the parents’ actual practice differs from the written order. The facts of Hauk The issue in Hauk arose because the parents had a parenting plan that changed as their child grew older. Rather than establishing one residential schedule through the child’s minority, the plan contained mul - tiple phases. At the time the mother served notice that she intended to relocate with the child to Virginia, the parents were in the third phase of the parenting plan. Under that phase, the father had six of every 14 overnights. That schedule gave him less than 45% of the child’s resi - dential time. The parenting plan, however, contemplated a later phase in which the father’s residential time would increase. Once the child reached kindergarten, the plan called for an equal division of residential time. That future change became central to the dispute. The Supreme Court was asked to determine how residen - tial time should be calculated for purposes of deciding whether the statutory relocation presumption applied.
218 C HILD RELOC AT I ON 20 26
CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook