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If the court finds that the petitioner has exercised due diligence in attempting to locate the parent, no contact between the child and the child's parent, guardian, or other custodian for a period of three months creates a rebuttable presumption of abandonment, even if there is no expressed intent to abandon.

You will need to file a Petition for Visits to start a court case, and you need to provide written statements from people who feel you should have visitation. This will be presented to the judge, who will read the paperwork. If the judge is likely to grant visits, they will schedule a hearing.

You can hire a professional process server, or you can ask a friend to hand-deliver the papers to your spouse. If you use a process server, they must complete a Proof of Service form after your spouse has been served and submit it to the courts. Keep a copy of the Proof of Service for your records.

To ask for custody, you must open a case with the superior court where you live or where the other parent lives. It may be a stand-alone custody case or a divorce, legal separation, annulment or parentage (paternity) case. After filing the initial paperwork, serve the other parent to officially notify them.

Visitation Rights At a minimum, the noncustodial parent must receive one weeknight visit and every other weekend. The judge may award more visitation time if the case warrants it, but not less.

Many Washington State courts have a public access terminal in the courthouse where you can view JIS public record case information such as an index of filed cases and a list of documents filed in each case. Contact your local court to see if they have a public access terminal.