The expenses of the family and the education of the children, including stepchildren, are chargeable upon the property of both spouses or both domestic partners, or either of them, and they may be sued jointly or separately. When a petition for dissolution of marriage or state registered domestic partnership or a petition for legal separation is filed, the court may, upon motion of the stepparent, terminate the obligation to support the stepchildren. The obligation to support stepchildren shall cease upon the entry of a decree of dissolution, decree of legal separation, or death.
RCW 26.16.205
Liability for family support—Support obligation of stepparent.
Applied in 61 court decisions — leading case 89 Wash. 2d 592 - Childers v. Childers (1978)
Most recently applied in In Re The Marriage Of: Roxanne Shortway, V William Shortway (May 2018)
2008 c 6 s 618; 1990 1st ex.s. c 2 s 13; 1969 ex.s. c 207 s 1; Code 1881 s 2407; RRS s 6906
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.