When “Playing It Safe” Hurts Utah Families
"Err on the side of caution" sounds sensible in divorce and child custody disputes. Who wants to be accused of taking chances with someone's safety? But before accepting that explanation,…
When a Court-Ordered Alcohol Evaluation Can’t Say No
Suppose two people have the same drinking habits. Both drink socially, occasionally overdo it, hold steady jobs, and have no pattern of alcohol-related impairment. One consults a professional on his…
Utah Family Law Needs a Subtractive Audit
In 2021, researchers at the University of Virginia published a study in Nature built around a Lego structure (Adams, Converse, Hales, and Klotz). Participants had to stabilize a platform so…
In Utah Family Law, Delay Is Not Neutral
Family litigation takes time. Some delay is inevitable and some is justified. Judges have crowded calendars. Lawyers have conflicting trials. Discovery takes time. Serious child-safety allegations may require investigation before…
Proffer Hearings in Utah Family Court: When a Disputed Fact Requires Actual Evidence
Summary: Proffers save time by letting lawyers tell the court what witnesses would say. That works well when the parties agree to proceed that way or when the court assumes…
How Divorce Clients Sabotage Their Own Cases: The Mistakes That Actually Matter
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…
The Arrest Is Not Really the Evidence: Probable Cause and Domestic Relations Cases
A parent tells the police that the other parent assaulted her. An officer responds, interviews people at the scene, and arrests the accused parent. Weeks later, the parties are in…
Child Parent-Time Refusal in Utah: How Courts Tell “Can’t” from “Won’t” (“I can’t make them” is where the inquiry starts)
"Why hasn't your son been to his father's home since March?" "He's sixteen. I can't make him." Sometimes that answer is true. Sometimes it's the end of a long, ugly…
Can You Ask the Court to Test the Custody Schedule You Are Proposing?
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…
The Answer to Too Much Psychology in Child Custody Disputes Is Not Reflexively More Psychology
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…
The Cost of Divorce: How to Keep Legal Fees Down Without Cutting Corners
Executive Summary: You do not save money in divorce simply by spending less on lawyers. You save money by using legal help where it adds value and avoiding work that…
The First Draft Is the Fitting, Not the Finished Suit
Executive Summary: I draft legal documents the way a tailor fits a suit. I start with a proven structure, show the client an actual draft, and then adjust the approach,…
The Standard Is Not Perfection. It Is Our Best Work and Nothing Less.
Nobody has any business demanding perfection from judges, commissioners, lawyers, guardians ad litem, custody evaluators, therapists, or court clerks. These are human beings doing difficult work, often under time pressure,…
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…
Utah Litigants Will Soon Have a Right to Free, Expedited Access to Courtroom Audio of Their Court Proceedings
Utah has enacted a meaningful improvement in access to court proceedings. Beginning January 1, 2027, Utah Code § 78A-1-203 will require an audio recording of each public court proceeding in…
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…
Hidden Assets in a Utah Divorce: What Discovery Actually Does—and Where It Falls Short
Utah's entire system for dividing property, setting alimony, and calculating child support runs on one assumption: both parties are telling the truth about their finances. When that assumption breaks down,…
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…
Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t: Responding to Domestic-Violence Allegations in Protective-Order Cases
An innocent respondent in a protective-order case often faces a problem that courts do not acknowledge clearly enough: The more fully he explains what happened, the more material he may give…
The Court Proceedings Recording Ban That HB 540 Didn’t Fix
Utah's state court rules still prohibit litigants and attorneys from making their own audio recordings of court proceedings, even when a proceeding is open to the public and no legitimate…
Utah Unlawful Detention: Bluffdale City v. Verive
Bluffdale City v. Verive - 2026 UT App 101 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS BLUFFDALE CITY, Appellee, v. AARON VERIVE, Appellant. Opinion No. 20250757-CA Filed July 2, 2026 Third District…
Paulson v. Paulson: Premarital Agreements, Expert Disclosures, and Attorney Fees
Paulson v. Paulson - 2026 UT App 108 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS TRISHNA PAULSON, Appellee, v. CHRISTOPHER PAULSON, Appellant. Opinion No. 20220914-CA Filed July 16, 2026 Fourth District Court,…
When Is a Divorce Settlement Agreement Ambiguous? Schmidt v. Schmidt
Schmidt v. Schmidt - 2026 UT App 98 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS STEPHEN EDWARD SCHMIDT, Appellant, v. ANGELA SCHMIDT, Appellee. Opinion No. 20240759-CA Filed July 2, 2026 Third District…
You Don’t Want an Overworked Judge or Domestic Relations Commissioner Deciding Your Family’s Fate
Judge Kasey Wright deserves more credit than ridicule for refusing to pretend that chronic triage is competent judging. On July 13, 2026, Utah Fourth Judicial District Judge Kasey Wright submitted…
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…
The Weaponization of Victimhood: A Candid Look at the Inexcusable Bias in Family Courts
“A woman's greatest strength [in divorce court] is her ability to be a victim.” It’s a statement that immediately makes people boil over—either in furious agreement or absolute outrage. But…
Let. The. Evidence. Point. The. Way.
A recent podcast clip I saw this week made a deliberately provocative claim: “A woman’s greatest strength is her ability to be a victim.” Taken literally, the statement is too…
Utah Rule 108 Requires a Hearing on Enforcement Objections
Christensen v. Christensen - 2026 UT App 104 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS JEFFREY CHRISTENSEN, Appellant, v. COURTNEY JESSICA CHRISTENSEN, Appellee. Opinion No. 20240810-CA Filed July 9, 2026 Third District…
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.…
Protection Without Prejudice
A temporary protective order should do one thing well: protect against the danger actually alleged and shown by nothing less than a preponderance of the evidence. It should not become…
When “More Likely Than Not” Becomes “Maybe, So Better Safe Than Sorry”
A low evidentiary burden is still a burden. That should be obvious. In Utah temporary protective order practice, however, it is often treated as optional. The preponderance of the evidence…
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…
The Bloodletting of Family Law: When the System Mistakes Itself for the Cure
For centuries, physicians bled their patients and called it medicine. The patients got weaker; the doctors, confident in their training, prescribed more bleeding. Medicine now has a name for harm…
Trust Me Is Not Evidence: The Custody Black Box in Utah Family Court
In most courtrooms, a litigant cannot restrict another person’s fundamental rights by repeating untested, out-of-court accusations. If a party tries to prove serious allegations through “someone told me” evidence, the…
Fear Wearing the Mask of Reason
On the surface, family court looks like a place of reason. There are statutes, rules of evidence, financial declarations, parenting plans, sworn testimony, judicial findings, and orders written in the…
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…
State v. Collard: Redacting Protective Orders and Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
State v. Collard, 2026 UT App 87 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS STATE OF UTAH, Appellee, v. KEVIN MICHAEL COLLARD, Appellant. Opinion No. 20240532-CA Filed June 4, 2026 Third District…
“I’ll Give It the Appropriate Weight” Is Not a Rule of Evidence
Few courtroom phrases are more soothing—or more dangerous—than this response to a valid hearsay objection: “I’ll admit it, but I’ll give it the appropriate weight.” The phrase sounds disciplined. It…
Walking in Their Shoes: The Reciprocal Argument Rule in Family Law Litigation
Family court is not ordinary litigation. In a business dispute, the parties may fight hard, settle, and never see each other again. In divorce and child custody disputes, the parties…
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- …
- 8
- Go to the next page