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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
[Full disclosure: I make no secret of the fact that I have yet to encounter a custody evaluation conducted in Utah that is not pseudo-scientific, incompletely and incompetently documented, and…
I recently participated in a hearing before a domestic relations commissioner in which the commissioner refused to interview a child and ordered a guardian ad litem (GAL) appointed, even though…