LJuCR 3.8. Disposition Hearing

    (a) Time. Pending disposition, the terms and conditions of any current shelter care order will continue in effect unless otherwise ordered by the court.
    (b) Informing Parties of Purpose of Hearing. (Reserved)
    (c) Evidence. (Reserved)
    (d) Submission of Agency Plan. (Reserved)
    (e) Transferring Legal Custody. (Reserved
    (f) Agreed Disposition. A proposed agreed dispositional order, together with all reports, may be submitted to the court. If the court does not sign the agreed order, the court will set a dispositional hearing.
    (g) Contested Dispositional Hearing on Agreed Dependency Order. The following provisions apply when parties enter an agreed dependency order but contest some or all dispositional issues. A dispositional hearing may include presentation of evidence (including testimony) and/or argument.
        (i) Issues. The order of dependency must identify the dispositional issues in dispute. The dispositional hearing will concern only those issued so identified.
        (ii) Scheduling. If the dispositional hearing will not exceed 30 minutes, it should be set on a dependency calendar in conformance with the procedure outlined in the court’s Dependency and Title 13 RCW Guardianship Manual (see LJuCR 1.1). Otherwise, a pretrial order (see LJuCR 1.7(b)) must be entered which will cause the matter to be set for judicial assignment.
        (iii) Briefing. The parties may, in the order of dependency, provide an agreed briefing schedule. Absent such agreement, the parties shall brief the issues on the following schedule: the petitioner shall serve and file its opening brief by 4:30 p.m. 14 calendar days before the hearing date; responding parties must serve and file responsive briefing by 4:30 p.m. seven calendar days before the hearing date; and the petitioner may file and serve a brief in strict reply by noon two judicial days before the hearing date.
        (iv) Working Copies. Working copies must be delivered as provided in LJuCR 1.8(b)(4).
    (h) Retention of Case. A judge may retain authority over a case on the motion of a party or 
sua sponte. Until the judge releases the case, all subsequent court-filed documents should identify the judge in the upper right corner of the first page. Unless the judge cannot timely hear a motion, hearings should be scheduled with the retaining judge's bailiff. Upon certification by a moving party that the retaining judge is not available to timely hear a motion, the hearing may be scheduled as otherwise provided in LJuCR 1.8(e).

[Amended effective September 1, 1983; January 2, 1994; July 1, 1994; September 1, 2005; June 1, 2009; September 2, 2013; September 1, 2016; September 1, 2021; September 1, 2023.]