Moving with a Child in Washington

Who must give notice, and of what

Except as provided in RCW 26.09.460, a person with whom the child resides a majority of the time, or a person with substantially equal residential time, must notify every other person entitled to residential time or visitation under a court order if the person intends to relocate (RCW 26.09.430). To relocate means a change in principal residence permanently or for a protracted period of time, or a change in residence where the parents have substantially equal residential time (RCW 26.09.410(2)). These rules apply to orders entered after June 8, 2000, and to earlier orders that do not expressly govern relocation (RCW 26.09.405(1)).

The notice

Notice is given by personal service or any form of mail requiring a return receipt, no less than 60 days before the intended move. If you did not know and could not reasonably have known the needed information in time to give 60 days’ notice, and it is not reasonable to delay the move, notice is due no more than five days after you learn it (RCW 26.09.440(1)).

The notice must include an address for service during the objection period, a brief statement of the specific reasons for the move, and a notice that an objection must be filed and served within thirty days or the move will be permitted. It is not in substantial compliance unless it contains the warning statement set out in the statute. If available, it also includes the new address, mailing address, and phone number, the new school and day care, the move date, and a proposed revised parenting plan or schedule (RCW 26.09.440(2)). The duty to update that information continues as it becomes known (RCW 26.09.440(3)).

The statewide Notice of Intent to Move with Children (Relocation), FL Relocate 701 (revised 01/2022) is used for moves outside the school district. It is a restricted-access record under GR 22(c)(2), and the form is marked for the clerk not to file it in a public access file.

• Within the same school district. You may give actual notice by any reasonable means instead, and the other parent may not object to the move, though that parent can still seek a modification under RCW 26.09.260 (RCW 26.09.450).
• Safety exceptions. Notice may be delayed for 21 days when a parent is entering a domestic violence shelter, or is relocating to avoid a clear, immediate, and unreasonable risk to the health or safety of a person or the child. Address confidentiality program participants need not give protected information, and a parent can ask the court ex parte to limit or waive the notice requirements (RCW 26.09.460).

Objecting to a move

An objection is filed with the court and served on the relocating party and others with court-ordered time by personal service or mail requiring a return receipt, within thirty days of receiving the notice, plus a three-day waiting period if served by mail. It takes the form of a petition to modify the parenting plan pursuant to relocation, or another proceeding adequate to provide grounds for relief (RCW 26.09.480(1)). The statewide forms are the Summons, FL Relocate 720 (revised 09/2026) and the Objection about Moving with Children and Petition about Changing a Parenting/Custody Order (Relocation), FL Relocate 721 (revised 07/2022). A person can file an objection whether or not proper notice was received (RCW 26.09.470(3)).

• Unless the special circumstances in RCW 26.09.460 apply, the parent planning to move may not change the child’s principal residence during the objection period without a court order, which may be obtained ex parte (RCW 26.09.480(2)).
• If the objecting parent notes a hearing to prevent the move for a date not more than fifteen days after timely service of the objection, the child may not be moved pending that hearing unless the circumstances in RCW 26.09.460(3) apply (RCW 26.09.480(2)).
• To stop a move until the objection is decided, FL Relocate 701 tells the other parent to also file a Motion for Temporary Order Preventing Move with Children, FL Relocate 725 (revised 07/2019).

Except for good cause shown, if no objection is filed within thirty days after the notice is received, the move is permitted, and the other parent is entitled to the residential time in the proposed schedule in the notice (RCW 26.09.500(1) and (2)). An order adopting that schedule can be obtained ex parte on proof of the notice and its service (RCW 26.09.500(5)).

How the court decides

The parent proposing the move must give reasons for it. There is a rebuttable presumption that the move will be permitted, and the objecting person may rebut it by showing that the detrimental effect of the move outweighs the benefit of the change to the child and the relocating person, based on these factors, which are not weighted and appear in no order of priority (RCW 26.09.520):

1. The strength, nature, quality, extent of involvement, and stability of the child’s relationship with each parent, siblings, and other significant persons.
2. Prior agreements of the parties.
3. Whether disrupting contact with the person seeking to move would be more detrimental than disrupting contact with the person objecting.
4. Whether either parent or a person entitled to residential time is subject to limitations under RCW 26.09.191 or 26.09.192.
5. Each person’s reasons for seeking or opposing the move and their good faith.
6. The child’s age, developmental stage, and needs, and the likely impact of the move or its prevention on the child’s physical, educational, and emotional development.
7. The quality of life, resources, and opportunities available to the child and the relocating party in the current and proposed locations.
8. The availability of alternative arrangements to foster the child’s relationship with the other parent.
9. The alternatives to relocation and whether it is feasible and desirable for the other party to move too.
10. The financial impact and logistics of the move or its prevention.
11. For a temporary order, the time before a final decision can be made at trial.

Substantially equal time. If the parent proposing to move has substantially equal residential time, meaning 45 percent or more with each parent as the statute measures it, the presumption does not apply and the court decides based on the child’s best interests, considering the same factors (RCW 26.09.525).

Before deciding whether to permit the move, the court may not admit evidence on whether the moving parent would stay if the child’s move is denied, or whether the objecting parent would also move (RCW 26.09.530). Relocation hearings get priority on the motion calendar and trial docket (RCW 26.09.560), and the court may sanction a proposal or objection made to harass, to interfere in bad faith, or to delay or increase costs (RCW 26.09.550). After deciding whether to allow the move, the court decides what changes to the parenting plan should follow (RCW 26.09.260(6)).

Primary sources

Laws, rules and forms change. Check the current version at the source before you file.

• RCW 26.09.405 to 26.09.560, relocation of a child
• RCW 26.09.410, definitions
• RCW 26.09.430, notice requirement
• RCW 26.09.440, notice contents and delivery
• RCW 26.09.450, moves within the same school district
• RCW 26.09.460, limitation of notices
• RCW 26.09.470, failure to give notice
• RCW 26.09.480, objection
• RCW 26.09.500, failure to object
• RCW 26.09.510, temporary orders
• RCW 26.09.520, basis for determination
• RCW 26.09.525, substantially equal residential time
• RCW 26.09.530, factor not to be considered
• Notice of Intent to Move with Children, FL Relocate 701
• Objection about Moving with Children, FL Relocate 721
• Motion for Temporary Order Preventing Move, FL Relocate 725