When Courts Reward What They Could Stop the Result Are Always Tragic
I don’t have all the facts about this. None of us do at this point. And what facts we have may not even be fully “factual,” but we’ve seen this…
When an “Absent” Parent Was Pushed Out
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…
Utah Child Custody and Long-Distance Relocation: “The 150 Miles or More Rule”Explained
Few child custody disputes create more uncertainty than relocation. A parent may wantto move for a new job, remarriage, school, lower housing costs, or to be closer to family.Those reasons…
Co-Parenting Apps: Useful Tool or Expensive Solution in Search of a Problem?
Parenting apps are now everywhere in modern child custody disputes. Lawyers recommend them. Parenting coordinators recommend them. Guardians ad litem recommend them. Courts sometimes order them. And the companies behind…
Equal Custody in Utah: Common, Increasingly Favored, but Still Not Presumed
A growing number of divorcing and unmarried parents walk into consultations convinced that Utah law now requires “50/50 (equal) child custody.” Some are absolutely certain of it. They heard it…
Divorce Litigants Need (and Deserve) Basic Courtroom Education Before Evidentiary Hearings and Trial
Utah law already recognizes that divorce is a life-altering event. Under Utah Code § 81-4-105, parents must attend an orientation course because the state knows this process is emotionally volatile and…
Why “Reasonable Parent-Time” Often Turns Into Unnecessary Conflict
ABSTRACT: Vague parenting plans built around “reasonable parent-time” often create more conflict, not less. When schedules, holidays, exchanges, and responsibilities are left undefined, parents frequently end up arguing about expectations…
Can You Win Child Custody If Someone Else Is Raising Your Kids During the Week?
This question is more common than you might think. Some may be in this situation: “I want custody for stability.” “I need custody because it affects support.” “I’m the better…
Exposing the “Child Whisperer” Myth in Utah Custody and Parent-time
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…
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 III – Transparency, Deference, and Institutional Design
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…
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…
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…
The High Cost of the “If It Saves Just One Life” Fallacy
In the world of public policy, there is a phrase that acts as a universal solvent for logic, restraint, and due process: “If it saves just one life.” The phrase is…
Should a Guardian ad Litem Speak for the Child—or Over the Child?
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.…
Why Can’t I Just Submit a Letter as Evidence in Court?
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…
Why This Debate Is So Often Avoided in Utah Child Custody Cases
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,…
Restoring Judicial Fact-Finding in Utah Child custody Cases: Adjudication Without Synthetic Substitutes
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,…
Why Utah Courts Rely on GALs, PGALs, and Custody Evaluators — The Best Case
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…
The Emperor Has No Clothes: When Do Credentials Prove Superior Skill in Interviewing Children?
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…
Best Interests Without Evidence: The Unexamined Premise of PGAL and Custody Evaluator Appointments
When Courts Hear About Children Instead of Hearing From Them In Utah child-custody and parent-time disputes, motions to appoint a Private Guardian ad Litem (PGAL) and/or a custody evaluator have…
Hearing is Not Harm: Why Utah Child Custody Courts Must Rethink the Code of Silence
In the practice of family law, we often hear a sentiment that is as ubiquitous as it is hollow: "We must protect the children from the litigation." On its face,…
Should You Have Your Spouse or Co-Parent Subject to a Psychological Evaluation in Your Divorce and Child Custody Dispute?
I. Introduction A psychological evaluation in a custody or divorce case sounds powerful. You may believe (or even know) your spouse to be manipulative, unstable, or even dangerous. So why…
How to Handle Child Custody When the Mother Is Negatively Influencing the Child?
Do you want the truth? Or, more accurately, the truth as I see it, having practiced divorce and family law for the past 28 years as of the date I…