In re the Marriage of Pascale

¶1 The uniform arbitration act (UAA) stipulates that a “court may not refuse to order arbitration because the claim subject to arbitration lacks merit or grounds for the claim have not been established.” RCW 7.04A.070(3). Instead, when determining whether a dispute must be arbitrated, the court must limit its inquiry to the question of whether that dispute falls within the scope of the parties’ agreement to arbitrate. If it can be fairly said that the arbitration agreement covers the dispute, arbitration is required.

¶2 Here, the trial court improperly reached the merits of the parties’…