Visitation Rights Lawyer in Spokane Valley
Over 100 Years of Family Law Experience, Ready for Your Case
In Washington, courts don’t use the phrase “visitation rights” the way most people do. What’s commonly called visitation is governed through a parenting plan: a court order that specifies where a child lives, when each parent has residential time, and how major decisions get made. Whether you’re a parent working out a new parenting plan, defending your existing residential schedule, or a grandparent seeking court-ordered contact with a grandchild, Allen | Fischer handles these matters for families throughout the Spokane Valley area.
Our attorneys share more than 100 years of combined family law experience and are ready to discuss your situation. Call (509) 262-3024 to schedule a confidential case review.
Why Spokane Valley Families Work With Allen | Fischer
No two parenting situations are alike. We take the time to understand each client’s goals before building a strategy around them, which means the approach we take for your case won’t look like a template pulled from a filing cabinet.
Not every residential-time dispute needs a courtroom. We offer mediation and collaborative law for families who want to reach an agreement without contested litigation. When a case does require strong advocacy before a family law judge, we provide it. Clients can count on clear communication throughout, without the legal jargon.
How Washington Parenting Plans Work
A parenting plan must address three things: a residential schedule, an allocation of decision-making authority, and a process for resolving future disputes. The residential schedule specifies which parent’s home the child is in on any given day of the year, including holidays, school breaks, birthdays, and vacations. The dispute resolution process, whether counseling, mediation, arbitration, or court action, must be included in the plan unless statutory limiting factors require otherwise.
When courts set the residential schedule, the factor given the greatest weight is the relative strength, nature, and stability of the child’s relationship with each parent. That’s the starting point when no limiting factors dictate a different outcome.
When Courts Limit a Parent’s Residential Time
Under RCW 26.09.191, certain findings require a court to limit a parent’s residential time. These mandatory limiting factors include willful abandonment, physical abuse or a pattern of emotional abuse, a history of domestic violence, an assault causing grievous bodily harm or the fear of such harm, and sexual assault or abuse of a child.
Courts may also limit residential time for additional reasons:
- Neglect or substantial nonperformance of parenting functions
- Long-term emotional or physical impairment that interferes with parenting
- Long-term substance abuse that affects the parent’s ability to care for the child
- Absence of emotional ties with the child
- Abusive use of conflict that creates a danger to the child’s psychological development
As of July 2025, Washington’s mandatory parenting plan form was updated to reflect amendments to RCW 26.09.191 and the new RCW 26.09.192, including a dedicated Attachment C for cases where supervised visitation is ordered. We stay current with these statutory changes so clients don’t have to.
