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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
When a parent isn't active in a child's life, most people think they already know why. He must not care. She must have checked out. He must have wanted something…
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…
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…
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…
There’s a simple way to reduce confusion and wasted time: answer the question that was asked—first, directly, and without detours. In law, this matters more than most people realize. When…
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…
I. The Illusion of Protection In Utah child custody disputes, courts have (but should not have) a choice: hear from the child directly or receive their life story through a…
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…
Protective orders are among the most powerful and disruptive tools Utah courts wield—all on an expedited timeline and often on a limited record. The law governing these orders is clearly…
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…
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…
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 court, neither a party nor one of that party’s witnesses can simply claim to repeat what someone else said and expect the judge to treat it as proof. As…
What “Laying Foundation” Actually Means One of the most common frustrations in Utah divorce cases is this: a party has a letter, email, report, or written statement that feels decisive—and…
In child custody disputes, the judge acts as the final arbiter, but they rarely get to see the daily reality of a child's life. This is where appointing an attorney…
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…
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…
A constitutional critique of Utah Code § 81-9-204(5)(a) Utah, like every state, bears a solemn and compelling responsibility to protect children involved in custody and parent-time disputes. That responsibility is…
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.…
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,…
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,…
This post is the second 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,…
This post is the first in a four-part series examining Utah courts’ reliance on guardians ad litem (GALs), private guardians ad litem (PGALs), and custody evaluators, beginning with the strongest…
When ‘Protecting Children’ Really Means Protecting Adults The Loyalty Conflict: A Convenient Scapegoat for Adult Discomfort The most common objection to a child testifying in a custody or parent-time dispute…
Questioning the Assumed Superiority of Custody Evaluators and Guardians ad Litem A foundational assumption in modern custody practice is rarely stated outright, but it governs nearly everything that follows: that…
Evidence, Record-Making, and the Limits of Testimonial Substitution Courts, lawyers, and commissioners in child custody and parent-time disputes often operate on an unspoken assumption: that the only acceptable way to…
In legal disputes over the physical custody and parent-time awards, minor children have the greatest stake in the outcome. Minor children who are mature and intelligent enough to articulate their knowledge…
With rare exception, the correct answer to any yes/no question (also known as a polar question) in your family law proceeding is: “yes,” “no,” or “I don’t know/I don’t remember”…
When it comes to divorce trials, one of the most pivotal decisions you’ll make is who to call as a witness. Testimony from well-chosen witnesses can offer critical insights into…