Presentation: “Improving the UGA Statute Language” by Miryam Gordon, LLLT & GAL/Court Visitor in King County

This CLE will focus on presenting some history of the Minor Guardianship statutes, as well as legislative changes being proposed - summarizing why these proposed changes may be helpful to courts, practitioners in guardianship, and families.

New laws intend to make improvements to our lives, but often contain unintended difficulties that deserve to be tweaked. After the Uniform Guardianship Act took effect (January 1, 2021 for minors; January 1, 2022 for adults), practitioners began to find places in the statutory language that should be improved.

The Title 26 Non-Parental Custody statutes were repealed and replaced with a whole new Minor Guardianship, and many family law practitioners found the new law so complicated they were no longer wished to provide legal counsel in this area. Pro se petitioners, court clerks/facilitators and judges have also found some statutes hard to work with in real time or have interpreted statutes differently, even from one county to another.

In an effort to contribute more clarity to the statutes, members of the WSBA Low Bono Section established a committee focused on amending these statutes further. You’ll be presented with the current statutes and the suggested changes that are on track to be presented to the State Legislature for the 2026 Session, with opportunities to ask questions and provide feedback.