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…
The Rule 702 Gap: Why Utah Custody Evaluations Need Real Evidentiary Scrutiny
In a Utah personal injury case, if a doctor testifies that a low-speed collision caused a traumatic brain injury, that opinion will usually face meaningful scrutiny under Rule 702 of…
Utah Court of Appeals Reverses Child Abuse Conviction Over Incorrect “Reasonable Discipline” Jury Instruction
State v. Paramoure - 2026 UT App 74 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS STATE OF UTAH,Appellee, V. PHILIP CHRISTOPHER PARAMOURE, Appellant. Opinion No. 20240381-CA Filed May 7, 2026 Third District Court, Salt Lake Department The Honorable…
Credibility Determinations Belong to Courts, Not Custody Evaluators
In a surprising number of child custody disputes, courts make major decisions based heavily on conversations nobody else gets to see or hear. A custody evaluator interviews the child privately.…
The “Delete” Trap: Why Wiping Your Hard Drive During a Divorce Can Blow Up Your Case
Deleting digital evidence during a Utah divorce can trigger sanctions, contempt findings, attorney fee awards, and devastating credibility problems. Learn how Utah courts treat destroyed evidence under URCP 26, 26.1,…
Wilson v. Wilson: Utah Court of Appeals Enforces Divorce Mediation Settlement Agreement
Wilson v. Wilson - 2026 UT App 72 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS LISA A. WILSON,Appellant, v. BRAD J. WILSON, Appellee. Opinion No. 20240444-CA Filed May 7, 2026 Third District…
Plausible Isn’t Proof: And “Discretion” Doesn’t Fix It
Stephen Petro recently made a point that should be obvious, but in the heat of litigation, often isn’t: A “reasonable” answer is not the same thing as a correct one. A reasonable answer…
NFTs in Divorce: How Courts Value (and Misvalue) Volatile Digital Assets
When a $100,000 asset can become $1,000 before trial, valuation timing—not ownership—is the real fight. If you’re holding NFTs and heading into a divorce, understand this: the court does not…
Emergency Contacts: A List of Local Resources for Families in Crisis (Utah Family Law Guide)
Family law emergencies do not follow business hours. What you do—or fail to do—in the first moments of a crisis often dictates your success in court months later. CRITICAL: If you…
The “Easy Way Out” That Can Cost You Your Kids in Utah: Why Pleas in Abeyance in DV Cases and Innocence Don’t Mix
You’re sitting there with a domestic violence (DV) criminal charge hanging over your head. And you’re innocent. Yet you’re scared. You're distressed. You’re tired. You want it over. Then comes the…
Deepfakes in Utah Divorce and Child Custody Disputes: Not If But When
A few years ago, the concern was fake law; lawyers citing to AI-generated cases that didn’t exist. That already happened in Utah. See Garner v. Kadince. The next concern is worse:…
Hiding Cryptocurrency in a Utah Divorce: Harder Than You Think, More Expensive Than It’s Worth
People hear “crypto” (cryptocurrency; Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) and assume “untraceable.” That assumption gets tested quickly in a divorce. In Utah divorce disputes over property division, cryptocurrency is treated like any…
Using Smart Home Tech to Spy on a Spouse in a Utah Divorce Case?
The modern Utah home is a goldmine of digital data. In a divorce or child custody dispute, it often becomes something else: a surveillance system one spouse tries to weaponize…
Pretrial Disclosures Matter in Utah Divorce Cases: Lessons from Prisbrey v. Prisbrey
There’s been (note the past tense) an assumption that creeps into a lot of divorce cases: If the evidence is important enough, the court will let it in. But in Prisbey v.…
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…
Prisbrey v. Prisbrey – 2026 UT App 39 – late disclosure
2026 UT App 39 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS LEONA MARIA PRISBREY,Appellee, V. KENT TERRY PRISBREY, Appellant. Opinion No. 20250070-CA Filed March 19, 2026 Fifth District Court, St. George Department The Honorable Keith C. Barnes No. 234500039…
The Social Media Trap: How One Facebook Post Can Impact Your Utah Child Custody Case
In a Utah custody case, your conduct is not limited to what happens in your home—it extends to what you choose to share online. Social media is not personal or…
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 Power of the Prepared Client: Why Readiness Is Your Best Legal Strategy
Divorce is a legal process with emotional consequences—but the court does not care how you feel about your case. It cares about what you can prove, and how persuasively. In…
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 II – Fidelity, Filtering, and the Loss of Context
In most areas of litigation, original testimony is preserved. Depositions are recorded. Hearings are transcribed. Statements given in investigative settings are documented. Context is retained because meaning does not reside…
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 Lack of a Record of Child Interviews in Child Custody Disputes
A 5-part series Series Introduction Modern legal systems run on records. Depositions are transcribed. Hearings are recorded. Police interrogations are preserved. Financial transactions generate digital trails. Making and preserving records…
Utah Court of Appeals: Postnuptial Agreements Can Set Child Support Above Guidelines
Reese v. Reese - 2026 UT App 31 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS MAKAIBREE MARIE REESE,Appellee,v.KYLAN REESE,Appellant. Opinion No. 20240830-CA Filed March 5, 2026 Third District Court, Salt Lake Department…
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…
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…
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