HB 2345 - DIGEST

Provides that, for any child, residential provisions may contain any reasonable terms or conditions that facilitate the orderly and meaningful exercise of residential time by a parent, including one or more of the following: (1) Requirements that residential times be specified;

(2) Requirements of reasonable notice when residential time will not occur; or

(3) Any other reasonable condition determined to be appropriate in the particular case including but not limited to a domestic violence assessment.

Requires that, in any parenting plan in which the court finds that the parties do not have a satisfactory history of cooperation or the limitations of RCW 26.09.191 are dispositive; to the extent necessary, the parenting plan shall include a safe, neutral, and public location for the exchange of the child such as a school, day care, place of worship, or any other appropriate public facility.

Directs the administrative office of the courts, pursuant to funding provided specifically for this purpose, to commission a study to commence by September 1, 2007. The study shall survey a statistically relevant number of geographically diverse final parenting plans in Washington to determine the allocation of residential time as between parents, including an analysis of gender disparities between parents, and the impact of legal counsel on outcomes of parenting plan disputes. The study shall be completed and a report provided to the legislature, the governor, and to the public within two years of the effective date of this act.