Most of what you’ll read online about getting divorced describes Washington in general, or King County, or no place at all. Snohomish County has its own local rules and its own way of running a calendar, and several of those rules changed in 2026. This guide walks through a divorce here from the first filing to the final orders. It explains who decides what, which deadlines matter, and where people run into trouble.
We practice family law in Snohomish, Island, King, and Skagit Counties, and the Snohomish County courthouse in Everett is where most of our cases are heard. The shorter posts in this series will become available here as they are published.
Where do you file for divorce in Snohomish County, and what does it cost?
You file with the Snohomish County Clerk at the courthouse, 3000 Rockefeller Avenue in Everett. The filing fee is $364. You can file in Snohomish County if you live here, even if your spouse doesn’t. Attorneys must e-file. Self-represented people can file in person or online.
Washington lets you file a divorce in the county where you live. RCW 26.09.010. The court captions the case “In re the marriage of,” and the first document is a petition. The person who files is the petitioner, and the other spouse is the respondent. Those labels don’t give anyone an advantage. The petitioner just goes first.
The clerk’s fee schedule sets the filing fee for a divorce, legal separation, or invalidity case at $364. If you can’t afford it, you can ask a commissioner to waive it on the ex parte calendar. Washington uses mandatory statewide forms for divorce, so the petition and summons look the same in every county. What differs here is what you serve along with them.
Our post on filing for divorce in Everett covers the forms, the fee, and what to bring.
What happens the day the case is filed?
Two things happen automatically. The court issues a temporary order that restrains both spouses from moving money, changing insurance, or relocating the kids. And the petitioner receives a Compliance Schedule with two deadlines: proof of service, and completion of mediation.
The automatic temporary order is a Snohomish County rule, not a statewide one. Under SCLSPR 94.04(b), every divorce, legal separation, and committed intimate relationship case starts with an order that does four things. Neither spouse may transfer, hide, or dispose of property outside the usual course of business or the necessities of life. Neither may change or cancel insurance. Each is responsible for their own new debts. Both have access to all tax, financial, legal, and household records.
If there are children, the order adds three more. Neither parent may change the children’s residence without written agreement or a court order. Both parents have full access to school and medical records. Neither parent may make negative comments about the other in front of the children. The petitioner has to serve this order on the respondent along with the petition.
The Compliance Schedule
The Compliance Schedule is the other Snohomish County document. King County gives you a trial date at filing. Snohomish County gives you deadlines instead: one for filing proof of service on your spouse, and one for finishing alternative dispute resolution. You serve the Compliance Schedule with the petition. If 180 days pass without service and nobody has responded or joined, the court can dismiss the case on its own. SCLSPR 94.04(c)(1), (c)(2).
How long does a divorce take in Snohomish County?
The legal minimum is 90 days from filing and service. An agreed divorce can finish shortly after that. A contested case takes much longer. The court’s own FAQ says six to eight months to reach trial. In our experience, a contested case with children, a business, or a house in dispute usually runs 12 to 18 months.
Washington is a no-fault state. If one spouse says the marriage is irretrievably broken, the court grants the divorce. RCW 26.09.030. The Washington Supreme Court put it plainly in In re Marriage of Little, 96 Wn.2d 183 (1981). Absent fraud or coercion, the allegation that the marriage is irretrievably broken is enough. Nobody has to prove the other spouse did anything wrong.
How the 90 days are counted
The 90-day clock runs from the later of two events: the day you file the petition, and the day you serve the respondent. Both have to have passed. The court can’t enter the final order sooner. RCW 26.09.181(7). The respondent has 20 days to respond after service in Washington, and 60 days after service outside the state.
The 90 days is a floor, not an estimate. What actually sets the pace is whether you agree. Two people who agree on everything can sign final orders on day 91. Two people who disagree about the parenting plan, the house, or a business have to get through temporary orders, exchange financial records, finish mediation, and get a trial date. Our post on how long a divorce takes in Snohomish County lays out each of those steps on a calendar.
Who decides my case, a judge or a commissioner?
In Snohomish County, a court commissioner decides almost everything before trial: temporary orders, restraining orders, support, and parenting schedules while the case is pending. A judge presides over trial. If you disagree with a commissioner’s ruling, you have 10 days to ask a judge to revise it.
Court commissioners are judicial officers appointed by the judges. State law gives them authority to hear temporary restraining orders, defaults, and ex parte and uncontested matters, among other things. RCW 2.24.040. Here, the assigned commissioners hear the Domestic Motions calendar in Courtrooms 1C and 1D on the first floor of the courthouse. The calendar runs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1:00 PM and Thursday at 9:00 AM under the court’s current administrative order.
Revision: asking a judge to look again
A commissioner’s order is not the last word. Any party can file a motion for revision within 10 days after the commissioner enters the order. RCW 2.24.050. A judge then reviews the ruling de novo, meaning fresh, but only on the record that was in front of the commissioner. The judge doesn’t take new declarations or new exhibits. State v. Ramer, 151 Wn.2d 106 (2004). In Snohomish County you note the motion on the judges’ civil motions calendar, which runs Tuesday through Friday at 9:30 AM, and the court assigns a judge once you note it. The moving party has to schedule the hearing within 14 days of filing and deliver the judge working copies of everything the commissioner saw. SCLCR 7(b)(12). Miss the 10 days and the commissioner’s order becomes the order of the court.
That has a practical consequence. The paperwork you file for the temporary orders hearing is the only record you’ll ever have if you want a judge to look again. Our post on commissioners and judges in Snohomish County divorce cases explains the system and how revision works.
What are temporary orders, and what happens at the hearing?
Temporary orders set the rules while the case is pending: who lives in the house, who pays which bills, a temporary parenting schedule, temporary child support, temporary spousal maintenance, and sometimes attorney fees. In Snohomish County, all of that goes in one motion on pattern form FL Divorce 223, your declarations can’t exceed 25 pages, and each side gets five minutes of argument.
State law authorizes temporary maintenance, temporary child support, and restraining orders while the case is pending. RCW 26.09.060. You request a temporary parenting plan by motion, with a declaration describing where the children have lived for the last 12 months and how each parent has handled their daily needs. RCW 26.09.194. Temporary orders don’t decide the final outcome. They end when the court enters the final decree.
The Snohomish County local rule adds requirements you won’t find in the statute. A motion for temporary orders must be on pattern form FL Divorce 223 and must include all the relief you want in a single motion: support, parenting, the house, the cars, debt allocation, everything. You can bring another motion later only if circumstances change or you learn something you couldn’t have known. SCLSPR 94.04(c)(6)(B).
Page limits and deadlines
Then there are the page limits. All declarations supporting the motion, yours and your witnesses’ combined, get 25 pages total. The response gets 25. The reply gets five. Text messages, emails, photos, and other exhibits count toward the limit. Financial declarations, tax returns, police reports, and evaluations don’t. Filing a countermotion for the same relief doesn’t buy you extra pages, and the court can strike anything over the limit. SCLSPR 94.04(c)(6)(B) through (H).
The deadlines are specific. You file and serve the motion at least 12 calendar days before the hearing. The response is due by noon five court days before, and the reply by noon three court days before. Working copies go to the commissioner the same day you serve the other side. Someone has to confirm the hearing by noon two court days before, or it comes off the calendar. SCLCR 6(d)(2), 7(b)(2), 7(b)(9). Argument is five minutes per side. SCLCR 7(b)(10)(d). The commissioner usually rules from the bench and signs the orders that day.
If the motion involves money, both sides file a Financial Declaration and, for child support, a worksheet. Each party also files two years of tax returns and current pay stubs under seal. SCLSPR 94.04(e). If the motion involves children, the moving party submits a background check request to Court Administration at least five court days before the hearing. SCLSPR 94.04(d)(5). Our post on what happens at a temporary orders hearing in Snohomish County walks through the day itself.
Do I have to appear in person at the Everett courthouse?
For family law motions, yes, unless you’ve gotten the court’s permission ahead of time. The commissioners hear the Domestic Motions calendar in person. You can attend hearings before a judge on the civil motions calendar, including motions to revise a commissioner’s ruling, by Zoom. Trials and the trial calendar call are in person unless the court approves a remote appearance.
The local rule reads permissively. It says parties appear in person or remotely unless the court calls for in-person appearance. SCLCR 7(b)(10)(c). The court’s website adds that Zoom appearance is subject to Administrative Order 39-22 and “the specific direction of the court.” In practice, the direction on the Domestic Motions calendar is that you show up. If you need to appear remotely for a temporary orders hearing, you ask the court for permission before the hearing, not the morning of. Judges’ calendars work differently. The civil motions calendar, where judges hear motions to revise a commissioner’s ruling, is available by Zoom, and AO 39-22 sets the ground rules: a stable connection, a private and quiet location, court-appropriate dress, and video on unless the court permits otherwise.
Trials
Trial is a different matter. Civil trials, including divorce trials, happen in person unless all parties stipulate in writing and the court approves, or the court grants a motion to appear remotely. SCLCR 40(d)(1). Parties and counsel report to the Presiding Department in person on the trial date for assignment to a trial judge. SCLCR 40(h). King County, by comparison, tells family law litigants they can attend motion hearings in person or by Zoom at their option. Our post on appearing by Zoom in a Snohomish County divorce covers the mechanics.
Do I have to take a parenting class?
Yes, if you have children under 18 and the case involves a parenting plan. Both parents must complete an approved parenting seminar within 60 days after service on the respondent. The county approves only two seminars. If you skip it, you can’t set the case for trial or get a final parenting plan signed.
The rule is SCLSPR 94.04(d)(4). It applies to divorces, legal separations, major modifications, and parentage cases that need a parenting plan. Each parent files a certificate of completion as a separate document. Opposing parties never have to attend together. The court can waive the requirement where there’s been domestic violence, where attendance isn’t in the children’s interest, or for good cause.
Skip it and the case stops. A parent who hasn’t completed the seminar can’t confirm the case for trial and can’t present any final order affecting the parenting plan. The court can also bar that parent from seeking other relief until it’s done. The court’s parenting seminar page lists the two approved options: Successful Co-Parenting, a four-hour live class on Zoom for $85, and Children in Between, a self-paced online course for $61.95. Our post on the Snohomish County parenting seminar requirement has the details on each.
Is mediation required before trial?
Yes. Every contested issue in a Snohomish County divorce must go through mediation or a judicial settlement conference before trial. The deadline is eight months from filing or before you confirm trial, whichever comes first. In March 2026 the court rescinded the compliance hearing it had used to enforce this. Now you show compliance by filing a notice signed by the mediator.
The requirement is in SCLSPR 94.04(c)(3). It covers divorces, parentage cases, committed intimate relationship cases, and most modifications. Support-only and maintenance-only modifications go to mandatory arbitration instead. The parties split the mediator’s cost equally unless the court orders otherwise or they agree to something different. Mediation isn’t required where a court has entered a domestic violence protection order or restraining order in the last 12 months, where a no-contact order exists, or where the court finds abuse would interfere with arm’s-length mediation. The court can also waive it for good cause.
What changed in March 2026
Until March 30, 2026, the rule included an ADR compliance hearing, and the court used that hearing to check whether the parties had mediated. The court rescinded that subsection and made the change permanent in the local rules effective September 1, 2026. Now you comply by filing a Notice of ADR/Mediation Compliance signed by the mediator, or by obtaining a waiver order, or by documenting an exemption on the notice. If you don’t, you can’t confirm your trial date, and the court can set a status hearing and impose monetary terms. You must note any motion to waive or compel mediation, or to shift its cost, on the commissioner’s calendar at least 60 days before trial. SCLSPR 94.04(c)(3)(F).
Most Snohomish County divorces settle at or shortly after mediation. When they do, a written agreement signed by both parties is enforceable. In re Marriage of Ferree, 71 Wn. App. 35 (1993). Our post on the Snohomish County mediation requirement explains how mediation works here and what the March 2026 change means in practice.
How does a Snohomish County divorce get a trial date?
You ask for one. Unlike King County, Snohomish County doesn’t assign a trial date when you file. A party files a Note for Trial Setting, the court sets a date, and both sides have to confirm the trial two weeks before it starts. Miss the confirmation and the trial date can be struck or the case dismissed.
You file the Note for Trial on the court’s form under SCLCR 40(b)(1). You can file it before mediation finishes if you’re confident mediation will wrap up by the confirmation deadline. SCLSPR 94.04(c)(5). Each side’s proposed permanent parenting plan is due by the earlier of 30 days after the note for trial or 180 days after the case started. RCW 26.09.181(1). Cases involving children get priority in trial setting.
Confirming the trial date
Confirmation is a real deadline. Every divorce is a non-jury trial. Each attorney or self-represented party confirms during the week two weeks before trial. The window opens at 8:00 AM on the first court day of that week and closes at noon on the last. You do it online. At confirmation, you have to show proof that mediation is complete. SCLCR 40(d)(2), (d)(3). If the parties confirm a case and then don’t show up for trial, the court can dismiss it. SCLSPR 94.04(c)(5)(B).
Snohomish County also offers an Informal Family Law Trial under SCLGR 40. If both parties consent and the judge approves, the trial proceeds with relaxed evidence rules and the parties speaking directly to the judge. It’s a good fit for some cases and a poor fit for others, particularly cases with contested valuations or credibility disputes.
What does the judge actually decide at trial?
Everything that’s still disputed: the parenting plan, child support, spousal maintenance, and the division of property and debt. The judge has wide discretion. Washington divides property in a way that’s “just and equitable,” which is not the same as equal. Maintenance has no formula. Appellate courts rarely reverse.
Property division follows RCW 26.09.080. All property, community and separate, comes before the court. The judge weighs the nature and extent of each, the length of the marriage, and each spouse’s economic circumstances when the division takes effect. Fault doesn’t count, and equal isn’t required. The Supreme Court said so in In re Marriage of Konzen, 103 Wn.2d 470 (1985). In a long marriage of 25 years or more, the court’s goal is to leave both spouses in roughly equal financial positions for the rest of their lives. In re Marriage of Rockwell, 141 Wn. App. 235 (2007).
Maintenance and attorney fees
Spousal maintenance under RCW 26.09.090 is what surprises most people. There’s no calculator. The only limit on the court is that the amount and duration must be just, considering all relevant factors. The Supreme Court calls it a flexible tool for equalizing the parties’ standard of living for an appropriate period. In re Marriage of Washburn, 101 Wn.2d 168 (1984). The court confirmed in 2024 that a spouse doesn’t have to prove need to receive maintenance. In re Marriage of Wilcox, 3 Wn.3d 507 (2024).
The court can shift attorney fees. It may order one spouse to pay the other’s fees after considering both parties’ financial resources, including fees for work done before filing. RCW 26.09.140. The test balances one spouse’s need against the other’s ability to pay. A spouse who drives up costs through intransigence may have to pay fees regardless of finances. In re Marriage of Mattson, 95 Wn. App. 592 (1999).
Appellate courts review all of this for abuse of discretion, meaning the decision stands unless it was manifestly unreasonable or rested on untenable grounds. In re Marriage of Littlefield, 133 Wn.2d 39 (1997). In practice the trial judge’s decision is the final one, so prepare for trial as if there’s no appeal.
How does an agreed divorce get finalized?
If you agree on everything, you don’t need a trial. After the 90 days have run, both parties sign the final orders and present them to a commissioner, with a short sworn declaration or brief testimony to support them. An attorney can present agreed orders on the ex parte calendar without the client attending. Self-represented parties use the Monday pro se dissolution calendar.
Snohomish County requires formal proof for final orders in every divorce and legal separation: either a written declaration on the court’s form or oral testimony. SCLSPR 94.04(c)(9). Once the respondent has appeared, every final order needs the other side’s signature, or their attorney’s, or proof that you gave notice of presentation. SCLSPR 94.04(f)(7). If the case settles at mediation, a Notice of Settlement of All Issues is due within seven days. Final documents are due within 60 days after that, or the court can set a show cause hearing. SCLSPR 94.04(i).
Presenting the orders
Agreed final orders go to a commissioner on the ex parte calendar. Our practice is to take them up in person. The client doesn’t need to come, because the signed formal proof declaration takes the place of testimony. Since May 1, 2026, orders presented without an in-person appearance go through the Ex Parte via the Clerk Portal, at a $30 presentation fee for up to five orders. SCLAR 0.02(f). If the case involves children, the parenting seminar certificates must already be on file, and a background check request goes in at least five court days before presentation. The court’s pro se dissolution calendar runs Monday mornings before a judge, in person, with working copies due five court days ahead.
What does a divorce cost in Snohomish County?
The court’s fees are small. The filing fee is $364, an ex parte presentation is $30, and the parenting class is $85 or $61.95 depending on the provider. Attorney fees are the real cost, and they depend almost entirely on how much you and your spouse disagree. A contested case that goes through temporary orders typically requires a retainer in the low five figures.
The parties split mediation costs equally under the local rule unless the court orders otherwise. If the court appoints a guardian ad litem, the appointment order says who pays. The court can order one spouse to pay the other’s attorney fees at the temporary orders stage, which is often how a spouse without income funds the case. That request goes in the FL Divorce 223 motion with a Financial Declaration. Our post on what a divorce costs in Snohomish County lays out the numbers we can give and the ones nobody can give in advance.
What should I do first?
Gather your financial records, don’t move money, and don’t move the kids. The automatic temporary order takes effect the moment you file the petition. A spouse who empties an account or relocates a child in the week before filing will be explaining it to a commissioner. Collect two years of tax returns, six months of pay stubs, and current statements for every account. Any motion involving money requires those documents, and having them organized saves fees at every stage.
If you have children, sign up for the parenting seminar early. The 60-day clock is short and the consequence for missing it is that your case stops. If you and your spouse can talk, talk about mediation now. The parties who arrive at mediation with a shared spreadsheet and a clear list of what’s disputed settle faster and spend less.
Common questions
Can we file jointly? Yes. The respondent can sign a joinder to the petition. That starts the 90-day clock on the filing date and avoids the cost of formal service.
Does it matter who files first? Rarely. The petitioner pays the filing fee and serves the papers. Being first doesn’t affect how the court divides property or decides the parenting plan.
What if my spouse won’t respond? After the response deadline passes, you can move for default. The court can still enter orders about property, support, and the children, but only what you asked for in the petition. The 90 days still applies.
Can I get a legal separation instead? Yes. A legal separation divides property and sets support and parenting terms without ending the marriage. The 90-day waiting period doesn’t apply to legal separations. Either spouse can later convert it to a divorce.
Do I need a lawyer? Not legally. The courthouse facilitator will review forms for self-represented people for $25 a visit, but can’t give legal advice and can’t help anyone who has an attorney. Cases involving a business, a pension, real property in dispute, or a contested parenting plan are where representation tends to change the outcome.
Where do I check the current rules? The county publishes its local court rules and emergent amendments on its own site. The statewide compilation on courts.wa.gov has carried outdated Snohomish text in the past. Use the county’s page.
The posts in this series
Getting started: How do I file for divorce in Everett? | How long does a divorce take in Snohomish County? | How much does a divorce cost in Snohomish County?
The hearings: Who decides my temporary orders, a commissioner or a judge? | What happens at a temporary orders hearing? | Can I appear by Zoom?
The requirements: Do I have to take a parenting class? | Is mediation required before trial?
The bigger picture: Why Snohomish County’s local rules change how a case is handled | What’s different about divorcing in Snohomish County instead of King County?
If a business is part of your divorce, start with our guide to divorce involving a family business in Washington.
This guide describes Snohomish County Superior Court procedure as of September 2026, including the local rules effective September 1, 2026. Local rules and administrative orders change on their own schedule. Check the court’s current rules before relying on any deadline.
Last updated September 2026.
Law Offices of Daniel Ehrlich, Everett. Family law in Snohomish, Island, King, and Skagit Counties. (425) 954-5578.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Every case is different. If you’re facing a divorce in Snohomish County, talk to an attorney.
