Parens Patriae: Why the Court Gets Involved in Your Family
If you’re dealing with a divorce or a child custody dispute, there’s something you need to understand early: This is not just your case. That’s not rhetoric. It’s how the…
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…
The Third Way: A Strategic Exit from the Divorce Court/Mediation Loop
Divorce cases spiral and stagnate because the system allows for posturing and delay without consequence. The courts are overwhelmed and apathetic. Mediation, as typically structured, does not require resolution. Without…
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…
Parenting Apps: A (Paid) Solution Looking for a Problem
Everyone in family law has heard the pitch: download a parenting app, pay a monthly fee, and suddenly your co-parenting problems become organized, documented, and “court-ready.” It sounds responsible. It…
Digital Housekeeping Before Divorce in Utah: Why You Must Change Your Passwords First
Before you file for divorce, your spouse may already have access to more of your life than you realize; your emails, financial accounts, personal documents, and even your private communications…
What Actually Happens When You File for Divorce in Utah (And Why It Takes So Long)
When most people think about divorce, many may picture a courtroom, a judge, and a decision. But this process is a long, costly, and discouraging one. A typical contested divorce or…
Second Marriages and First Impressions: The Stories About an Ex—and the Mistakes People Make by Believing Them
The most dangerous stories in a second marriage are often the ones only one person can verify. Everyone has a past. Everyone has an explanation for why a prior relationship…
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.…
Control Your Communications, Protect Your Case: Choosing Your Inner Circle in Utah Family Law
When you are involved in a divorce, custody dispute, or protective order court case, the desire to talk about it can be strong. You may want advice, validation, or simply…
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…
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…
VA Disability Pay vs. Alimony: Why Your “Tax-Free” Income Still Counts
Veterans often believe their VA disability pay is “untouchable” in divorce. Not exactly. While it cannot be divided as property, courts routinely treat it as income for alimony. Learn how…
The Obvious Variable No One Addresses: How Gender Distorts Protective Order Decisions
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…
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 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…
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…
The “Tooling Up Phase” of Divorce: Why Gathering Your Financial Documents Early Can Save You Thousands of Dollars and Spare You Months of Delay
When people begin thinking about divorce, most want to get it over with quickly. Keep the suffering to a minimum. They want to file immediately, schedule hearings, and get the…
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…
What I Have to Remind Myself of with a New Divorce Client
When divorce or a child custody dispute begins, most people think they know what they’re fighting for. The house. The retirement account. The business. Parent-time. Child support. Alimony. Those are real issues. They matter. They need…
Not Malicious, But Misaligned: Why Utah Protective Order Hearings Have Become Functionally Rigged
Utah’s protective order system was not designed to punish innocent people. It was designed to prevent violence. That distinction matters. Over time, the framework has developed a structural imbalance. The…
The Calendar and the Calculator in Harmony: Fully Serving the Best Interest of the Child
When parents separate, two instruments immediately begin to shape a child's future: the calendar (time) and the calculator (money). Both matter. Neither is optional. And neither compensates for the absence…
Utah HB 208 (2026): What the Proposed Parentage Amendments Would Change
Utah’s Legislature has introduced HB 208 (2026), a bill that would make meaningful changes to the state’s parentage statutes. Parentage law determines who is legally recognized as a parent. That recognition…
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…
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.…
Utah’s Legal “Pause”: When a Temporary Separation May Be Smarter Than Immediate Divorce
When a marriage is in serious trouble, many people assume the only decisive move is to file for divorce. Sometimes that’s true. But oftentimes it isn’t. Utah law provides another…
Perception Isn’t Everything in Divorce Court, But It Often Decides the Close Calls
Utah divorce law is statutory. Judges don’t invent custody standards or alimony rules on a whim. They apply what the Legislature has enacted. But statutes do not apply themselves. Judges…
Who Is in Charge of a Lawsuit: the Client or the Lawyer?
People who hire a lawyer tend to assume one of two extremes. Either: “I hired the lawyer, so the lawyer does what I say.” Or: “The lawyer is the professional,…
Bahsoun v. Mooney – 2026 UT App 18
Bahsoun v. Mooney - 2026 UT App 18 2026 UT App 18 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS MAZEN BAHSOUN,Appellee, v. COLLEEN ELIZABETH MOONEY, Appellant. Per Curiam OpinionNo. 20251317-CA Filed February…
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…
The Price of Professionalism: The Pro Se Paradox in Family Court
The "Rules for Thee, But Not for Me" Phenomenon The legal system is built on procedure. For an attorney, failing to file a motion on time or improperly authenticating a…
Why Divorce Decrees Don’t Magically Change Mortgages: What Too Many Utah Homeowners Learn the Hard Way After Divorce
Divorcing homeowners in Utah frequently run into mortgage servicer roadblocks when trying to refinance or have a spouse removed from a loan, even when the divorce decree says so. This blog explains…
The Language Barrier of Divorce: Decoding Divorce Jargon
Divorce is hard enough on its own. Add in legal paperwork packed with unfamiliar terms, and it can feel like you’re suddenly expected to speak a completely new language. For…
What Utah Law Actually Says About Hearing From Children in Custody Cases
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…
What Counts as “Testimony” When the Court Hears From a Child
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…
When the System Resists Hearing from the One Person Who Actually Lives the Case
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…
What Legal Assistants Do in Divorce and Family Law Cases—and Why It Matters
Divorce and family law cases are often described in terms of lawyers: legal advice, strategy, negotiations, and court appearances. None of that works unless the case itself is properly built…
When Can Things Be Submitted to the Court?
Every year, I watch people bring “important” documents to court that the judge will never read. Emails. Text messages. Financial records. Therapist letters. Receipts. Recordings. Sometimes the most important material…
“When in Doubt, Grant the Protective Order” Is Not a Legal Principle
In discussions about protective orders and alleged domestic violence, I often hear a familiar refrain: “Protective orders should be granted liberally even when the question comes down to one person’s…
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,…
When Help Becomes Substitution: Where Utah’s Use of Best-Interest Professionals Breaks Down Legally
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,…
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 ‘Loyalty Conflict’ Myth: Why Courts Project Adult Anxiety Onto Children
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…
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…
The Voice of the Child: Why Simple, Factual Testimony Is Often Safer Than Psychological Interpretation
The Danger of Interpretation When Courts Refuse to Hear from the Child Directly When the court relies on a child custody evaluator or Guardian Ad Litem (GAL), it is not…