Executive Summary: Most divorce cases are not damaged because clients lack legal knowledge. They are damaged by avoidable mistakes in judgment: hiding bad facts, treating suspicion as proof, creating damaging…
In re B.J. - 2026 UT App 144 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS STATE OF UTAH, IN THE INTEREST OF B.J., C.J., AND S.W., PERSONS UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE.…
Suppose you are asking for joint or equal physical child custody. The other parent opposes it. Why not ask the court to put your proposed schedule into effect temporarily so…
Summary. Family law increasingly describes ordinary misconduct in clinical terms. Selfishness becomes narcissism, and disagreement becomes gaslighting. When amateur psychology complicates a child custody dispute, courts and lawyers often respond…
Disraeli said never apologize for feeling, because to do so is to apologize for truth. He was right, and Utah family law should take him seriously. A parent's fear for…
The Lindsay Clancy murder trial is about as far removed from an ordinary Utah divorce case as one can imagine. Clancy admitted killing her three young children in Massachusetts in…
There is a powerful argument for caution in family court, and it deserves to be taken seriously. When a judge or commissioner is confronted with an allegation that a parent…
Utah Courts Should Stop Paying an Intermediary to Tell the Factfinder What the Factfinder Can Hear Directly When a child's wishes, concerns, experiences, or perceptions matter in a Utah child…
2026 UT App 130 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS JUAN MIGUEL GUANUNA, Appellant, v. LINDSEY R. SAWATZKI AND JONATHAN C. SAWATZKI, Appellees. Opinion No. 20240191-CA Filed August 20, 2026 Third…
It often begins with a request that sounds perfectly reasonable. “We need some space.” “The fighting isn’t good for the kids.” “Why don’t you stay somewhere else for a while…
There is a ritual that plays out with remarkable regularity in Utah family court proceedings. A divorce becomes ugly. A parent is angry. A child is anxious. Communication deteriorates. Someone…
What “Special Training” Does a Judge Really Need to Talk to a Child? In Utah child custody disputes, one of the stock objections to having a judge interview a child…
One of the strangest objections to judges interviewing children in child custody disputes is that the interview might make the child anxious. Of course it might. The child’s parents are…
Mental-health awareness has helped people recognize genuine illness, obtain treatment, and speak about suffering without shame. That is real progress. But family law increasingly reveals the other side of the…
Summary: 1. Proposed paragraph (b)(2) applies to judicial interviews substantially the same restrictive threshold the Legislature imposed on compelled child testimony. 2. Concerns about litigation abuse and judicial workload justify…
Here is the objection this post is going to draw, so I deal with it directly instead of dodging it: raising questions about the reliability of memory sounds like it's…
A fit parent is awarded equal custody of two teenagers. Nothing in the record suggests that parent is dangerous, neglectful, or unfit—the court has already said so. A few months…
Judges in child custody disputes should hear from children more often. A lot more often. It should be routine, the presumptive course, the default. Not because children should decide custody…
At a recent hearing, a commissioner explained why she was appointing a private guardian ad litem instead of interviewing the child herself: "Given the age of the child, the statutory…
Christine Miller recently made a point about family court that deserves more attention: the appearance of independent professional agreement where no genuine independence exists. When a court appoints a private guardian…
A fit parent is awarded equal custody of two teenagers. Nothing in the record suggests he's dangerous, neglectful, or unfit—the court has already said so. A few months in, the…
Child Custody Defiance Should Not Cost a Fit Parent Both the Children and More Money Suppose a court orders equal custody. Both parents are fit. One parent is ready, willing,…
One of the most complex, high-stakes scenarios occurs when federal immigration policies collide head-on with state domestic relations law. Under the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a non-citizen spouse…
Anyone who practices Utah family law has watched it happen. A child custody dispute is going badly for one parent, or hasn't started yet, and a protective order petition appears.…
Few legal proceedings can rearrange a person’s life as quickly as an ex parte protective order. A judge can remove someone from the family home, restrict contact with children, limit access to…
This post is a companion to The Bloodletting of Family Law. That post diagnosed a system that mistakes itself for the cure. This one is about the cure the system…
Designing divorce and custody settlements that resist gaming Most child custody disputes — and most of the financial fights that ride alongside them — run on bad incentives. The system…
Few child custody disputes create more uncertainty than relocation. A parent may wantto move for a new job, remarriage, school, lower housing costs, or to be closer to family.Those reasons…
When parents separate or divorce, one of the most important questions is how custody of their children will be determined. Many parents enter the process believing the court will automatically…
In re A.H., 2026 UT App 88 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS STATE OF UTAH, IN THE INTEREST OF A.H., J.H., J.H., L.H., N.H., S.H., AND E.H., PERSONS UNDER EIGHTEEN…
Many parents (I’d say even most parents) enter family court hoping someone will fix everything. Believing that: the judge will see through the lies. the custody evaluator will identify the…
One of the most common mistakes parents make in Utah child custody disputes is assuming that a “custom-tailored” holiday schedule must automatically be better than Utah’s standard statutory holiday parent-time…
If you’re dealing with a divorce or a child custody dispute, there’s something you need to understand early: This is not just your case. That’s not rhetoric. It’s how the…
Everyone in family law has heard the pitch: download a parenting app, pay a monthly fee, and suddenly your co-parenting problems become organized, documented, and “court-ready.” It sounds responsible. It…
This question is more common than you might think. Some may be in this situation: “I want custody for stability.” “I need custody because it affects support.” “I’m the better…
The Missing Step Courts in child custody disputes routinely make determinations without ever hearing from the child directly—or even reviewing a complete and reliable record of someone who did. That…
In Utah child custody and parent-time disputes, courts routinely defer to a familiar class of professionals: private guardians ad litem (PGALs) and custody evaluators. These professionals are held up as…
The Basic Logic of Factfinding The Protection Rationale The Expertise Rationale The Record Disappears Credibility Cannot Be Tested The Court’s Position: Real Constraints, Imperfect Tools Institutional Convenience One of the…
I. The System’s Logic When courts appoint custody evaluators and/or private guardians ad litem (PLALs), the justification is usually straightforward: The judge does not want children to testify.So instead, the…
This series has examined a focused procedural question: whether interviews with children in custody disputes should be preserved through authenticated contemporaneous verbatim record via unedited audio-visual capture. The discussion has…
Legal systems evolve. Practices that function adequately become routine. Routine hardens into assumption. Over time, assumption begins to resemble necessity. Unrecorded child interviews in custody and parent-time cases appear to…
The Fragility Rationale The most common justification for not making and keeping a record of child testimony rests on fragility. Knowing that the interview will be recorded, it is said,…
In the world of public policy, there is a phrase that acts as a universal solvent for logic, restraint, and due process: “If it saves just one life.” The phrase is…
When parents separate, two instruments immediately begin to shape a child's future: the calendar (time) and the calculator (money). Both matter. Neither is optional. And neither compensates for the absence…
When the interviews that shape custody decisions remain inside a black box, the court is asked to trust what it cannot independently verify. In Utah child custody disputes, custody evaluations…
Utah’s 2026 legislative session includes a proposal that deserves attention well beyond juvenile court. House Bill 372—particularly its substitute versions—revisits Guardian ad Litem (GAL) duties and standards in child welfare proceedings.…
In re B.G. – 2026 UT 2 This opinion is subject to revision before finalpublication in the Pacific Reporter 2026 UT 2 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF…
In Utah, "joint physical custody" doesn't have to mean a perfect 50/50 split, though that is increasingly common (increasingly common, not the default—the system still treats mothers more favorably than…
In the prior discussion, I described a common feature of Utah custody and parent-time proceedings: courts routinely make findings about a child’s needs, attachments, and lived experience without hearing directly…
In the prior two posts, I described a common feature of Utah custody and parent-time proceedings: courts routinely make findings about a child’s needs, relationships, and lived experience without hearing…