A divorce in Snohomish County follows rules specific to this courthouse, and most of what’s online describes some other county or no county at all. This post is part of a series answering the questions our clients ask about how the process actually works here.
A temporary orders hearing in Snohomish County is short. A commissioner reads both sides’ declarations in advance, hears about five minutes of argument from each side, and rules from the bench. The orders that come out of it govern your money, your house, and your children until the case ends. Almost all of the work happens before the hearing, on paper, within a 25-page limit.
Before the hearing
One motion, everything in it. Snohomish County requires a motion for temporary orders to be on pattern form FL Divorce 223 and to include all the relief you want in a single motion: temporary parenting plan, child support, spousal maintenance, who stays in the house, who drives which car, who pays which debts, and attorney fees. SCLSPR 94.04(c)(6)(B). You can’t come back next month for the piece you left out unless circumstances have changed or you’ve learned something you couldn’t have known.
The 25-page limit. Everything you and your non-expert witnesses swear to in support of the motion has to fit in 25 pages total. The other side gets 25 pages to respond. Your reply gets five. Text messages, emails, photographs, and similar exhibits count against the limit. Financial declarations, tax returns, pay stubs, police reports, and reports from guardians ad litem or evaluators don’t. SCLSPR 94.04(c)(6)(B) through (F). Over-limit filings can be struck. A countermotion asking for the same or related relief doesn’t earn extra pages. The five-page reply is usually the tightest constraint in the whole motion.
The financial package. If you’re asking for support, maintenance, or fees, or responding to a request for them, you file a Financial Declaration. For child support, you also file a worksheet. Both sides file, under seal, two years of federal tax returns with all W-2s, 1099s, and schedules, plus a current pay stub with year-to-date figures or six months of pay stubs. SCLSPR 94.04(e). A motion for financial relief without these documents can be stricken or denied.
Deadlines and confirmation
The deadlines. The motion is filed and served at least 12 calendar days before the hearing. The response is due by noon five court days before. The reply is due by noon three court days before. SCLCR 6(d)(2). Working copies go to the commissioner the same day you serve the other side. SCLCR 7(b)(2)(b). If children are involved, the moving party submits a background check request to Court Administration at least five court days before the hearing, and the check has to be no more than 14 days old on the hearing date. SCLSPR 94.04(d)(5).
Confirmation. The moving party has to confirm the hearing by noon two court days before it, or the hearing is stricken. Confirmations are accepted for a 24-hour window that opens at noon the court day before the deadline, online or by phone at (425) 388-3587. SCLCR 7(b)(9)(a). Every year, motions that were perfectly briefed disappear from the calendar because nobody confirmed them.
On the day
The Domestic Motions calendar is heard by the assigned commissioners in Courtrooms 1C and 1D on the first floor at 3000 Rockefeller Avenue, Monday through Wednesday and Friday at 1:00 PM and Thursday at 9:00 AM. The calendar is in person. If you need to appear by Zoom, you ask the court for permission before the hearing, not the day of. Plan to be there early.
Check in twice. You check in with the clerk when you arrive and tell them whether you’re ready to proceed. When the commissioner takes the bench, the calendar is called and you check in again on the record. If you need a continuance, this is when you say so.
Five minutes per side. Argument is limited to five minutes per side unless the court has specially permitted more. SCLCR 7(b)(10)(d). If you want a minute of rebuttal, you reserve it out of your five. Experienced attorneys bring a timer to the podium. The commissioner has already read the papers. Argument is for the two or three points that decide the motion, not a summary of everything you filed.
The ruling. The commissioner usually rules from the bench, issue by issue, and then gives both sides a chance to ask clarifying questions. That window is for clarifying, not for reargument.
Orders the same day. Both sides are expected to arrive with proposed orders. The prevailing party presents the final order before the calendar ends unless the commissioner says otherwise. SCLCR 7(b)(11). Child support has to be in a separate order with the worksheet attached. SCLSPR 94.04(e). The orders are typically signed and filed that afternoon.
After the hearing
You have 10 days to seek revision. If you believe the commissioner got it wrong, a judge can review the ruling, but the motion must be filed within 10 days after the order is entered, and the judge considers only what the commissioner saw. RCW 2.24.050; SCLCR 7(b)(12). Our post on commissioners and judges explains how that works.
The orders last until the case ends. Temporary orders don’t decide the final outcome and they terminate when the final decree is entered. RCW 26.09.060(10). But in practice they set a status quo that’s hard to move. A temporary parenting schedule that works for six months tends to look like a reasonable permanent one. Temporary maintenance that’s been paid for a year is a data point at trial. Treat the temporary orders hearing as the most important hearing in the case, because for most people it is.
Changing them. Temporary orders can be modified by motion on a change of circumstances. SCLSPR 94.04(g)(1). A new motion means a new round of declarations, a new 25 pages, and a new hearing.
The mistake people make
Writing the declaration as a history of the marriage. The commissioner has minutes, not hours, and 25 pages of grievances doesn’t answer the questions the commissioner has to decide: where the children have been living and who’s been handling their daily needs for the last 12 months, what each spouse earns, what the monthly expenses are, and who can pay what. RCW 26.09.194 lists what a temporary parenting plan declaration has to cover. Show your math on support and attach the pay stubs. Leave out anything that doesn’t bear on an order the commissioner can actually sign.
Two things you can do now
Build the financial package first. Two years of returns, six months of pay stubs, and a completed Financial Declaration. Every number you argue at the hearing should trace to a document in that package.
Write down the last 12 months of the children’s schedule. Who got them up, who did school runs, who handled doctors, who was home when. Specific dates and routines are far more persuasive than characterizations.
Common questions
Do I have to be there in person? Yes, unless you’ve asked ahead of time and the court has allowed a remote appearance. The Domestic Motions calendar is heard in person. Check the Commissioner Hearings page the evening before to confirm your motion is still set for argument.
What if my spouse files a countermotion? A countermotion asking for the same or related relief and set for the same hearing doesn’t get its own 25 pages. Both sides work inside the standard 25/25/5 limits. SCLSPR 94.04(c)(6)(G).
Can temporary orders be changed later? Yes, by motion on a change of circumstances. SCLSPR 94.04(g)(1). A new motion means a new round of declarations within the page limits and a new hearing.
This post is part of our series on how a divorce works in Snohomish County. Start with the main guide, How a Divorce Actually Works in Snohomish County, or read about appearing by Zoom and what a divorce costs here.
This post describes Snohomish County procedure as of September 2026. Page limits, deadlines, calendars, and forms change on their own schedule; check the court’s current local rules before filing a motion.
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.
