In Utah, if you have not had your parental rights terminated, but instead you simply agreed to your child’s parent having custody of the child (with you having little to no contact with the child) and that agreement was made an order of a court, then unless you could show that “a substantial and material change in circumstances” has occurred such that it is not in the child’s best interest to remain in the sole custody of the other parent, your chances of modifying the child custody award such that you obtained sole custody of the child are slim to none.
As noted, the change-in-circumstances requirement is set forth in Utah Code section 30-3-10.4. This requirement “serves multiple interests.” Doyle v. Doyle, 2011 UT 42, ¶ 25, 258 P.3d 553. “First, because a custody decree is predicated on a particular set of facts, that decree is res judicata,” so “the changed-circumstances requirement prevents an unnecessary drain on judicial resources by repetitive litigation of the same issue when the result would not be altered.” Miller v. Miller, 2020 UT App 171, ¶ 17, 480 P.3d 341 (quotation simplified). “Second, the changed-circumstances requirement protects the custodial parent from harassment by repeated litigation.” Id. (quotation simplified). And third, “the requirement protects the child from ‘ping-pong’ custody awards,” id. (quotation simplified), thus emphasizing “the importance of a stable and secure homelife for children who are shifted from one parent figure to another” and ensuring that custody issues are not frivolously or infinitely “reopen[ed],” Hogge v. Hogge, 649 P.2d 51, at 53–54 (quotation simplified).
(Widdison v. Widdison (Court of Appeals of Utah, April 7, 2022, 509 P.3d 242, ¶33, 2022 UT App 46)
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