We welcome you to the office of GREGORY L. DAVIES as a client and intend to provide you with professional and efficient services. In order to make you more fully aware of the future course of your dissolution proceeding, it is important that you have full and complete information regarding the process through which your case will continue until its final conclusion.

If you and your spouse can reach an agreement as to all of the issues (property division, debt allocation, maintenance, child support, parenting plan), the dissolution can be finalized after the mandatory ninety (90) day waiting period.

If any issue is unresolved and is contested by your spouse, a trial before a Superior Court Judge becomes necessary. Currently, trial dates are scheduled approximately 8 months from the date of setting. If neither party requests a trial date, the case continues for at least one year and the parties are subject to any temporary restraining or other orders that may have been obtained (support, parenting plans, use and possession of property, payment of debts) so long as the case is not dismissed or the parties reconcile.

It is my general practice to obtain a trial date between thirty (30) to sixty (60) days after the case has begun. If you wish to have the finalization of your case delayed, please communicate that to my legal assistant within thirty (30) days.

The first court hearing, at which we will usually argue your case, is called a Show Cause Hearing. This hearing, held before a Domestic Relations Department Court Commissioner, is generally held within two to three weeks after the case has started. The purpose of a show cause hearing is to secure temporary restraining orders, whenever necessary, as well as protective orders concerning the temporary use and possession of personal property and real estate, payment of community debts, performance of parenting functions and, when appropriate, payment of maintenance and attorney's fees.

Any temporary orders issued by the court are reduced to written form, signed by the Court Commissioner, and filed in the courthouse. Copies of restraining orders as to domestic violence are also filed with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office and stored in a police computer, so as to make police agencies more responsive to request for protection if there is a violation.

You will receive a copy of any temporary court order in your case. It is your responsibility to:

1. Read and understand the terms of the order;
2. Comply with each and every order directed at you;
3. Communicate to your attorney any violations of the court order, whether by you or your spouse.

Sanctions for violation of court orders may include a jail sentence, fines, and the requirement to pay the innocent party's attorney's fees and court costs.

When your case is set for trial, I will make an estimate of the time and effort which will be required to properly prepare for trial, and advise you of the amount of fees needed and the monthly payments required to proceed with orderly trial preparation.


There are many things that may need to be done before your trial, depending on the complexity and number of issues on which you and your spouse may disagree. Consequently, the more issues which can be resolved by agreement, the lower the cost of preparation and trial.


As of September 1, 2009, the Snohomish County Superior Court requires that before a case can proceed to trial the parties must mediate their case before a neutral third party mediator. Mediators generally charge an average of $250.00 per hour and some require a retainer of between $1,500 to $2,500 before mediation can take place. In any event, payment to the mediator will be expected at the end of the mediation at the latest. Therefore, you will be expected to deposit your share of the mediator's fees before mediation takes place. If you are unable to pay your share then mediation will not take place and your trial date will be stricken by the Court. Mediation and trial will have to be rescheduled.


You and your spouse are each required by court rules to provide full and complete information to the other whenever requested. The information may include providing copies of documents and other records in your possession or control or available to you. Typically, you will be requested to produce all bank records, including your personal check registers and bank statements showing all deposits, payroll stubs and W-2 statements, records of interest earned and dividends received. If you intend to make any expenditures which may be embarrassing if disclosed to your spouse, I strongly recommend that you do not make them by check or credit card purchase.

Records not under your control may be obtained by either you or your spouse, through use of a subpoena, requests for production, interrogatories and depositions. A typical request for production is attached to this letter, as is explanatory information regarding interrogatories and depositions.


The first question the court must answer in your trial is, "What is the character of the property to be divided?" Your assets (personal and real property) may be either separate or community. Community property is everything acquired after marriage from earnings of either spouse. Separate means property purchased before marriage, inherited before or after marriage, and sometimes a gift to one spouse and not both. There may be situations in which the separate property of one spouse is co-mingled with community property. This type of situation presents special problems which should be thoroughly discussed with your attorney and understood by you in arriving at a determination of what is an equitable division in your dissolution action.

After characterizing the properties, the court must determine their value. You and your spouse, as owners, can render an opinion of the value of all assets to be divided. Each of you can also hire professional appraisers to place a value on your assets. There are many qualified appraisers for real estate, business, pension and retirement plan, furniture and antiques, jewelry, guns, cars, etc. The important thing for you to decide is how far apart are you and your spouse in your valuation of a particular asset, so as to make a professional appraisal financially justified. Sometimes, a compromise in valuation is the best solution in avoiding the costs of appraisals. At trial, if only you and your spouse render valuation opinions, the court tends to find a median value. Property value is defined as the present reasonable market value as opposed to original cost or replacement cost of similar new property. Therefore, whenever requested to give an opinion of value, your response should be based upon the above definition.


In the State of Washington, community property need not be divided equally. The trial judge divides all assets, both community and separate, and all debts and awards attorney's fees and litigation expenses as he or she sees fit based upon a test of fairness. The fairness test is called "Equitable Division" as opposed to "Equal," and takes into account factors such as: health, age, education of the parties, the value of total community and separate assets to be divided, the responsibility for care of children, and most importantly, the future earning capabilities and financial resources available to each of the parties after the marriage dissolution.

It is very important that you understand our role in serving you in a professional capacity, as well as your role in assisting us to obtain the best results possible.

Sometimes, you will be upset or disappointed in the responsiveness of the legal system to your needs. There may be times when you do not understand why or how a particular ruling was made by the court, or why your attorney did or did not do something which was important to you. From our standpoint, we may not know what your thought processes are and the nature of some particular concern which you have. It is imperative that you and your attorney maintain a relationship of mutual trust and respect. This can only be attained through proper and consistent channels of communication.

If, at any time, you feel that my efforts on your behalf are not meeting your needs and you wish to either a) get a second or third opinion, or b) secure the services of another attorney, I will do all I can to assist you.

Similarly, we expect certain things from you as a client:

1. Prompt response to our letters and requests for information or other contact.
2. Keeping your appointments or notifying us of inability to do so in advance.
3. Keeping us advised of any changes in your address, telephone number, living arrangements, attempted reconciliations with your spouse, or side agreements with your spouse, which are contrary to existing court orders.
4. Payment of our billings or requests for monthly payments promptly upon receipt, or an effort by you to make alternative arrangements to meet your financial obligations to our office.

We would recommend that you maintain a file throughout the course of our representation of you. Your file should contain this explanatory material as well as the initial Petition and other pleadings filed in your case. As the case progresses and further court proceedings take place, we will be providing you with copies of all court orders which we ask that you maintain in this file in chronological order and that you read and understand all provisions of court orders that may affect. you. Any questions should be addressed to me. This file should also contain all correspondence from our office, notices to you and requests for information or payment of fees. When you come in to discuss you case with me, please bring this file with you so that reference may be made to any questions which you may have or which we may have for you.

In conclusion, while we are here to serve you professionally in a legal capacity, we are not qualified to deal with the emotional issues of the breakup of a marriage and the stress of other relationships which may contribute to an oftentimes traumatic experience for you. We encourage you to seek other professional services as they may relate to such things as counseling and psychotherapy to the extent that these issues influence such things as property settlement and parenting plans relating to children. Should you desire to utilize such service and wish input from us, we will try to assist you in obtaining a qualified mental health professional.

It is our desire that, at the conclusion of these proceedings, you will feel that you have been well and professionally served.

1. My children can decide with whom they wish to live when they reach 14 years of age.
   A child has no right to determine his or her residential care, although the child's desires in that regard will be considered by the court and given weight as the court deems appropriate, given the reasons for the expressed desire and the child's maturity.


2. There is no alimony/maintenance in the State of Washington.
   Maintenance, which used to be called alimony, may be available in the State of Washington under very limited conditions based upon the needs demonstrated by one spouse and the ability of the other spouse to pay and to still meet their own needs for support; generally, awards of maintenance are limited to a long term marriage, an economically disadvantaged spouse and a financially independent spouse.


3. Community property must be divided equally.
   The court is required to make equitable division of property, which does not necessarily mean equal.


4. If my spouse doesn't pay child support, I can deny visitation rights, and vice versa.
   The payment of support and exercise of visitation is not conditioned one upon the other and the violation of the parenting rights of the other spouse, which include the obligation to pay support, is punishable by contempt of court, which may include a fine and jail sentence and payment of attorney's fees to enforce parenting rights.


5. My spouse has to pay my attorney's fees because I don't want the divorce.
   Costs of litigation are not based upon fault or which of the parties wishes to dissolve the marriage or has moved from the family home. It is based strictly upon the financial ability of the parties to meet the needs of litigation and, as in the case of maintenance, is based upon the ability to pay and demonstrated need.


6. My spouse is having an affair, therefore I will get all of the property and can keep my spouse from having residential care of the children.
   Since we have a no-fault divorce system, your spouse's conduct and lifestyle have no bearing on property distribution. It may or may not affect the court's judgment with regard to the best interests of the minor children, but the fact of an affair does not in and of itself automatically disqualify your spouse from performing parenting functions.

Under the law of Washington, each side to a lawsuit has the right to take the discovery deposition of the opposing party. The opposing party may require you to appear at a specified time and place and give your testimony, under oath, which testimony is taken down by a court reporter and typed out for future use in the lawsuit.

The following information and instructions are offered in an effort to better acquaint you with what is expected of you and how you can be an effective witness at discovery deposition time.


In its simplest form, a discovery deposition is the oral testimony of a witness taken under oath before trial and at which time most of the objections available at trial do not apply; the basic rule being that the questions asked need only address themselves to information that is relevant to the case or to discovering relevant facts.


The purpose of the discovery deposition is to pick the mind of the witness of all the facts which he or she may have in his or her possession which will assist the lawyers in the preparation and trial of the lawsuit.