Neither Spock Nor McCoy: What Administering Utah Family Law Actually Requires
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…
Who Gets the Benefit of the Doubt? What the Lindsay Clancy Case Can Teach Utah Family Courts
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…
When “Erring on the Side of Caution” Becomes a Substitute for Proof
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…
If a PGAL Can Interview a Child, So Can a Judge or Commissioner
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…
Guanuna v. Sawatzki: Utah Court Upholds Presumed Father Despite DNA
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…
The “Noble Exit” Trap: How Moving Out Can Reshape a Child Custody Case Before It Begins
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…
The Performative Care Trap: Why Family Court Is Addicted to Therapy
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…
When “Special Training” Becomes a Credentialist Dodge
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…
Let the Judge Talk to the Child. Have the Judge Talk to the 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…
When (and Why) Cheap Therapy Culture Makes Family Law Worse
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…
Public Comment on Proposed Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 110 — Judicial Interview of a Minor Child
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…
When a Label Changes the Past: Testing Memory Instead of Trusting It in Custody Disputes
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…
Kids Don’t Belong in the Driver’s Seat: How Utah Custody Law Rewards Defiance and Calls It Protection
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…
When the Old Lame Excuses Fail, New Ones Will Be Invented
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…
“I’m Not Trained to Interview Children” and Other Empty Objections Behind Utah’s PGAL Default
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…
One Opinion, Seven Letterheads: The Family Court Echo Chamber
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…
Kids Don’t Belong in the Driver’s Seat: How Utah Custody Law Rewards Defiance and Calls It Protection
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…
When Family Courts Punish the Innocent Parent
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,…
The Intersection of Federal Immigration Law and Utah Divorce
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…
SB 304 Promised a Fix for Weaponized Protective Orders. Read the Statute
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.…
The Paper Shield: Protecting Victims Without Abandoning Due Process
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…
The Standard of Proof Is the Immune System of Family Law—and Courts Keep Suppressing It
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…
Make Honesty the Selfish Move
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…
Utah Child Custody and Long-Distance Relocation: “The 150 Miles or More Rule”Explained
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…
The “Best Interests” Standard: Common Factors Judges Consider in Utah Child Custody and Parent-time Disputes
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…
Ineffective Counsel in Utah TPR Cases: In re A.H.
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…
Child Custody and Parent-time Awards Need to Incorporate More Humility
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…
The “Custom-Tailored” Holiday Schedule vs. Utah’s Statutory Plan
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…
Parens Patriae: Why the Court Gets Involved in Your Family
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…
Parenting Apps: A (Paid) Solution Looking for a Problem
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…
Can You Win Child Custody If Someone Else Is Raising Your Kids During the Week?
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…
You Can’t Decide What You Haven’t Examined: What Most Utah Courts Knowingly Miss in Child Custody Decisions
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…
Exposing the “Child Whisperer” Myth in Utah Custody and Parent-time
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…
When Courts Refuse to Hear Directly From Children in Child Custody and Parent-Time Disputes
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…
The Child Still Testifies—Just “Off the Record”?
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…
Structure, Confidence, and the Integrity of Process – Conclusion
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…
Part III – Transparency, Deference, and Institutional Design
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…
Part I – The Fragility Rationale and the Case for Making and Preserving Records
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,…
The High Cost of the “If It Saves Just One Life” Fallacy
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…
The Calendar and the Calculator in Harmony: Fully Serving the Best Interest of the Child
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…
Trust Without Verification: The Custody Evaluation Transparency Problem
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…
Should a Guardian ad Litem Speak for the Child—or Over the Child?
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.…
Utah Supreme Court: ICPC and Natural Parents – In re B.G., 2026 UT 2
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…
The Difference Between “Joint Custody” and Equal Custody in Utah Child Custody Disputes
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…
What Utah Law Actually Says About Hearing From Children in Custody Cases
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…
What Counts as “Testimony” When the Court Hears From a Child
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…
When the System Resists Hearing from the One Person Who Actually Lives the Case
Seth Godin observed that every important medical innovation of the last several centuries—handwashing, antibiotics, acknowledging the dangers of smoking—was initially resisted by the medical establishment. Not because the ideas were…
The Muzzled Meadow
I. The Founding TraumaIn the Meadow, everyone agreed on one thing: voices were dangerous.It hadn’t always been so. Long ago, animals spoke plainly. Some spoke well, somepoorly, some too much.…
Why This Debate Is So Often Avoided in Utah Child Custody Cases
This post is the fourth in a four-part series examining Utah courts’ reliance on guardians ad litem (GALs), private guardians ad litem (PGALs), and custody evaluators, and the legal, procedural,…
Restoring Judicial Fact-Finding in Utah Child custody Cases: Adjudication Without Synthetic Substitutes
This post is the third in a four-part series examining Utah courts’ reliance on guardians ad litem (GALs), private guardians ad litem (PGALs), and custody evaluators, and the legal, procedural,…
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