During the course of a marriage, you will accumulate marital property, and during your divorce, you will need to divide those items. You may be tempted to bicker over every…
Many people who have gone through a divorce case or unmarried parents who have gone through a child custody case find themselves at the end of the case with a…
There are literally thousands of lists you can find online that do an excellent job of identifying the reasons accurately, clearly, and concisely. I recommend that you find them and…
Paragraph five of your financial declaration is about the amount of taxes on your monthly income that you pay per month (or what the average monthly deduction from your income…
Are you a churchgoer? Are you a member of a church? If so, your church may have resources available to members to help them with various legal concerns or problems.…
This is an area where the laws differ substantially from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. To know what options may be available to you in your jurisdiction, you need to consult with…
We’ll start with this: The marital estate is generally valued at the time of the divorce decree or trial. Goggin v. Goggin, 2013 UT 16, ¶ 49, 299 P.3d 1079. The…
If you find yourself involved in a Utah divorce action (whether child support will be an issue or not) or an action over the support of minor children in Utah…
An accusation that gets thrown around a lot in a divorce action is that a parent doesn’t actually want to spend time with his or her children. Usually it's an…
This is a great question. Go find a good (a good, not just any) retired divorce attorney (a divorce attorney, not some other kind of attorney who has no idea…
Elder v. Elder - 2024 UT App 68 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS BRITTANY LEE ELDER, Appellee, v. MATT BLAKE ELDER, Appellant. Opinion No. 20210902-CA Filed May 9, 2024 Second…
See parent question. I am a divorce lawyer, and after a divorce case ends (meaning a decree of divorce has been issued and case essentially closed), I literally never know…
After you ask, “Is there anything I can do for winning custody after the GAL report is favoring my ex? Is paying more to my attorneys worth it or no?,”…
2024 UT App 54 - Tilleman v. Tilleman THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS MICHAEL ROBERT TILLEMAN, Appellant, v. MICHAL CHRISTINE TILLEMAN, Appellee. Opinion No. 20210637-CA Filed April 11, 2024 Fourth…
I’m Braxton Mounteer, a legal assistant. I've written and talked about this problem before, but it's a recurring problem and a serious one. It's hard enough to muster the courage…
McFarland v. McFarland - 2024 UT App 31 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS BRUCE RAY MCFARLAND, Appellee, v. NICOLE S. MCFARLAND, Appellant. Opinion No. 20221044-CA, Filed March 14, 2024 Second District…
The easiest of these two questions to answer is the second one, i.e., “Can child support be waiver retrospectively by the child support payee? The answer is yes, if the…
Whether you believe that everyone needs (or could benefit from) therapy or that it is only for the most dysfunctional families, you, like most people, likely agree some therapy has…
When those who will be ordered to divide assets with a spouse and/or pay child and/or spousal support (alimony) confront the matter, many try to lie about and to misrepresent their…
Do you want to know where the real money is most often made in divorce and family law cases? Child custody and parent-time disputes, hands down. Rarely do the parents…
Some people believe that child support is the same for all parents. They believe that every parent who is ordered to pay child support pays the same amount of money…
When those who realize they may be ordered to pay child and/or spousal support (alimony) confront the matter, many try to lie about and to misrepresent their income in the hope…
Here is a list of the current proposed family law legislation for the 2024 Utah State Legislative session, along with a (very) brief description of the proposed legislation. If you…
Divorce is already hard enough on the parties involved, but it is even harder on the children of the recently separated family. I speak as a child of divorce, who…
In the jurisdiction where I practice divorce law (Utah), the law is NOT that joint debt incurred during the marriage will presumptively remain the debt of both spouses (and thus…
You have just been served with a summons and complaint (or petition) for divorce. Now have to traverse the minefield that is finding a good divorce attorney. It's harder to find a…
Most attorney websites that contain “articles” on prenuptial agreements aren’t really articles but thinly veiled sales pitches for prenuptial agreements. This post is not one of those. I have always…
If by this question you mean to state that your husband told you he would pay for your attorney in the divorce action between the two of you, that could…
Whether you “get the child” (meaning whether you will be awarded physical custody of the child) has little to no relevance to the fact that your spouse is seeking child…
I often encounter sneaky spouses who after separation and/or after a divorce action has been filed, start sending text messages and emails to the other spouse making false claims like:…
How does filing for divorce affect relationships with family members and friends who don't agree with the decision? Poorly, generally. That should come as no surprise. Do people tend to…
This is a subject that comes up frequently. It comes up frequently not because misappropriating child support is a hard problem to mitigate but because the courts don’t have the…
Generally: It appears that the law in Utah is that the trial court is not required to consider hypothetical and/or future tax consequences of the disposition of the marital estate. See Howell v. Howell,…
Special masters and parent coordinators (and co-parenting therapists, co-parent coaches/consultants, and their ilk) were invented for the purpose of unburdening courts from some of the conflict associated with domestic relations…
I think I know why you think it’s weird. Why have the children live with one parent instead both parents on an equal custody basis? In other words, “I’ll bear…
Question: I am ordered to pay child support to my ex. My ex and I are both ordered to share the cost of our child’s health, medical, dental, and hospital care…
Help me help you, will you? The cost of a divorce attorney’s representation in Utah is simply and obviously far too high for most people. We’re talking bankruptcy or near-bankruptcy…
The first thing you should know is that I am a writer. I have authored some short stories and some other things you haven’t heard of. I have been a…
In response to this question, "Have you ever thought someone was making a mistake by getting a divorce?,” I stated (and I summarize here) some people need to divorce. It’s…
Knowlton v. Knowlton - 2023 UT App 16 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS SHONDELL SWENSON KNOWLTON, Appellee, v. BRADLEY LEWIS KNOWLTON, Appellant. Opinion No. 20200483-CA Filed February 9, 2023 Second…
My name is Stephanie from flingorlove.com and honestly, I usually wouldn't bother emailing about this, but I researched and gathered as much data and stats as I could about various divorce statistics…
Myers v. Myers 2023 UT App 20 2023 UT App 20 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS AMY R. MYERS, Appellee, v. JACOB W. MYERS, Appellant. Opinion No. 20220002-CA Filed March…
I am frequently asked questions about my flat fee billing. I bill on a weekly flat fee basis. Usually $500 per week, although the weekly fee can be higher if…
Free or inexpensively? Yes, there are ways. Each jurisdiction has different ways of providing these free and/or inexpensive legal services. With rare, if any, exception, these free and/or inexpensive legal…
What advice would you give to someone who has just become one of the parties in a divorce proceeding? #1. Know this: divorce law and the divorce process are almost…
Do I have to pay the court to go to trial? I am a divorce and family lawyer. I was asked this question and was a little surprised that this…
Some of the courts where I practice divorce and family law are intent on abandoning the innovation and improvements that remote hearings have brought (and would have otherwise continued to…
Why are so many attorneys seemingly against legal separation? I truly feel in my circumstance its best for me/us. Is it because they wont make as much money? We have…
Are Couples in which the husband didn’t have a full-time job had a chance of divorcing the following year, compared to couples in which the husband did have a full-time…
If you get a divorce but everything is in your name, do you get to keep everything or do you have to split it? I will answer your question in…