Legal separation vs. separation agreement

An agreement about child support and parenting plan, without the court's signature, is just a piece of paper. The agreement likely will work fine as long as both parents abide by the agreement. Once one of the parents no longer wants to follow the agreement, the other parent cannot get the other parent to following the agreement. The police, unless there is a clear sign of immediate danger to the child, would not get involved should there be a dispute as to who should have the child. If you two really agree on everything, it would not be too expensive or time consuming to file documents with the court and get court orders. The blank mandatory pattern forms for most WA family law proceedings are free at http://www.courts.wa.gov/forms/ . There are links to instructions and self-help guides from that site. You likely should at least review your facts with your attorney. After the consultation, you can decide whether to do things by yourself.