Equal physical custody should be awarded far, far more often than it is currently in Utah. There are so many situations in which we have two loving, fit parents who are capable of exercising equal physical custody, but Utah has some (some, not all) biased judges who refuse to give equal physical custody so much as a chance to fail, and so equal physical custody never has a chance to prove successful.
Equal physical custody has an important side benefit: preventing the parent who would otherwise have been awarded–needlessly–sole or primary physical custody from moving away on pretextual grounds. Awarding sole or primary physical custody to one parent often precedes that parent’s move hundreds of miles away when there was no indication that was on the horizon and when there is plainly no compelling need for it now. Only after the ink dries on the decree does such a primary/sole custodian say, “I need to move now,” and then the same biased court that awarded sole/primary custody and shouldn’t have reasons (most of the time, though not always), “Well, you are the primary/sole custodian, so it makes sense that the kids move with you.”
Although equal physical custody is gaining in popularity among judges, it’s doing so at a glacial pace, and the road to equal custody is rarely a smooth one. If you are a parent who is fighting for equal physical custody, especially if you are the father, you have an uphill battle before you. Don’t assume otherwise.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277