Legislating residential credit

A 2019 legislative priority should be updating the RCW 26.19.* child support statues per the suggestions of the previous Child Support Schedule Workgroups. In 2017, HB 1603 AMS LAW S2477.1 would have provided residential credit to households with at minimum one night per week shared residential time. It passed 96-1 in March 2017 but only the child support economic table changes made it into law in 2018.

Current legislation filed in this session is HB 1050, which makes great progress in establishing an equal residential schedule as the default parenting plan. Financially, the courts and DSHS provide no forms or process for providing residential credit to the higher-income household that has shared custody and provides a child support payment.

The 2019 Child Support Schedule Workgroup will begin monthly meetings in Tumwater on Friday January 25th to provide recommendations to the legislature. Please contact the Workgroup via https://www.dshs.wa.gov/ (search for 2019 workgroup) and your local lawmakers to voice support for establishing equal residential time between parents with residential credit included in the child support calculations as the default positions of the law and courts to reduce the adversarial nature between parents, reduce litigation, and in the best of the children.

Jim Clark

Lake Stevens, WA