Washington Modification
The affidavits ARE the first hearing.
Washington screens parenting-plan modifications on paper: no adequate cause in the affidavits, no hearing — the motion is denied. This page teaches the gate before you file, splits the major and minor lanes honestly, and names the prospective-only rule for support.
RCW 26.09.270
A parenting-plan modification motion is DENIED unless the supporting affidavits establish adequate cause for a hearing — only then does the court set a show-cause date (RCW 26.09.270). The paperwork IS the first hearing: thin affidavits end cases.
RCW 26.09.260
The permanent plan's residential provisions change only on a substantial change in circumstances of the child or the nonmoving party, with the statute's own retention preference — plus its enumerated lanes (agreement, integration into the petitioner's household, detriment, the RCW 26.09.191 conduct class) and the separate minor-modification track for schedule adjustments.
RCW 26.09.170
Support and maintenance modification runs prospectively — accrued installments do not retroactively change — and child support additionally follows the schedule's own review rules. A different track from the parenting plan's adequate-cause gate.
Sequence your posture
What are you changing?
The gates in order
Pick a target and sequence it — the adequate-cause gate leads every parenting-plan answer.
Authority locked — retrieved from the hash-pinned corpus
The adequate-cause gate is where modification cases are won or lost — the affidavits must carry real, admissible facts, and that drafting deserves counsel. This organizer sequences the gates; it never predicts a ruling. Legal information, not legal advice.