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How much does it cost to file for custody in Washington?

Starting a new custody case in Washington superior court costs a $200 filing fee, $290 with the two statutory surcharges. RCW 36.18.020(2)(a) charges the party filing the first document in any civil action a fee of $200 — and a standalone parenting-plan or custody action for unmarried parents is filed as a new superior court civil case, on the same first-document line the statute expressly applies to actions for restitution, adoption and change of name. Subsection (5)(c) adds a $40 surcharge on that filing fee and subsection (6) adds a further $50 surcharge on a subsection (2)(a) fee, bringing the amount collected at the clerk's counter to $290 before any county-level additions.

Washington custody fees at a glance

Washington decides custody inside two kinds of superior court cases. Where the parents are married, custody — a parenting plan — is decided inside the dissolution case, and the filing fee is the dissolution's own first-document fee, not a second charge for raising custody. Where the parents are not married, a parent files a standalone petition to establish a parenting plan, and that petition opens a new civil action: the $200 first-document fee under (2)(a) is the price of opening it, and a responding parent who files a counterclaim, cross-claim or third-party claim pays the same $200 under the same paragraph. The statute's own contrasts mark the boundaries of the line: an unlawful detainer case is carved out at a $45 initiating fee, a compulsory-attendance petition carries no fee, and an antiharassment protection order petition is separately priced at $53 under (2)(d) — none of which is the custody line. The national comparison is on the child custody filing costs hub, and the divorce-side filing is covered on this site's Washington divorce costs page.

The two surcharges, line by line

Both surcharges are in the same section, and both are mandatory. Subsection (5)(c) requires clerks to collect a $40 surcharge on all filing fees under the section except the appeal, antiharassment and criminal-conviction fees it names; three quarters of it is remitted to the state treasurer for the judicial stabilization trust account and the county retains the rest. Subsection (6) then requires a further $50 surcharge on the fees listed in (2)(a), (b), (c), (e), (f) and (g): $45 of it is transmitted onward — $20 to the Washington state legacy project, state library and archives account and $25 to the judicial stabilization trust account — and the balance stays with the county for the clerk's office. A custody filer therefore cannot budget the headline $200 alone: the collected total on a new filing is $290, the same total this site's Washington adoption costs and Washington name change costs pages report for their (2)(a) filings. Counties may add locally authorised charges on top of the state schedule, so the clerk's current fee page for your county is the final word on the exact counter total.

How the case runs

1. File the petition to establish a parenting plan (or the dissolution petition, if married) in superior court and pay the first-document fee and surcharges $290
2. Serve the other parent as the rules require — service is arranged and priced outside RCW 36.18.020
3. The responding parent's counterclaim or cross-claim, if any, carries its own first-document fee $200
4. Complete any parenting seminar or mediation the county requires — provider-set charges, named below
5. Finish with the final parenting plan; a later standalone case to change it starts again on the (2)(a) line

What custody really costs beyond the clerk

Washington's schedule prices the courthouse door, not the dispute. Service of the petition on the other parent is charged by the sheriff or a process server; parenting seminars and mediation are priced by the providers the county approves; a guardian ad litem or parenting evaluation, where the court orders one, is compensated on terms set in the case; and attorney fees are private arrangements. None of those amounts is fixed by RCW 36.18.020, so this page names them without inventing figures — the same discipline applied on this site's Washington probate costs, Ohio custody costs and Texas custody costs pages. What a Washington filer can predict from the statute is the opening spine: $200 to file, $40 and $50 in surcharges, $290 collected, and $200 for a counterclaim's first document. The wider state picture is on the Washington court costs guide.

Can't afford the fee?

Washington superior courts can waive filing fees for a filer who cannot afford them: RCW 36.18.022 provides the waiver mechanism for the clerk's fees in this chapter, sought on a showing of inability to pay at the time of filing. File the waiver request with the petition rather than after it — an unwaived, unpaid filing is not accepted as filed. The general mechanics of fee waivers are explained in the fee waiver guide.

Sources: RCW 36.18.020, official text at app.leg.wa.gov, read directly — (2)(a) $200 first-document fee in any civil action, expressly including restitution, adoption and change of name, and $200 for a counterclaim, cross-claim or third-party claim; unlawful detainer initiating fee $45; (2)(d) antiharassment petition $53; (3) no fee for a relinquishment petition under RCW 26.33.080; (5)(c) surcharge $40; (6) surcharge $50 on (2)(a) fees, allocated $20 legacy project / library / archives and $25 judicial stabilization trust account · RCW 36.18.022 (fee waiver). Last verified: November 2026 — confirm your county's total, including any local additions, with the superior court clerk.