Parent Time Archives

Can being a noncustodial parent improve the child-parent relationship?

Can being a noncustodial parent improve the child’s relationship with the noncustodial parent? Recently, a reader on Quora, where I comment regularly, commented on a post of mine with this: Anecdotally: When my parents separated I felt I saw my…

Child refuses to exercise shared custody with the stricter parent

Teenager Child (16) refuses to see me after spending a month with my ex. I have 50% custody. What can I do about it? I’m a stricter parent unlike my ex who lets him play computer games all day and…

Should I get sole custody of my children if the dad does not want custody?

Should I get sole custody of my children if their dad does not want to be involved with them? Or try to talk it out before I go through with it? Your children deserve a loving, salutary relationship with both…

What are the primary concerns in determining parenting issues? Why?

What are the primary concerns of the courts in determining parenting issues? Why? In Utah (and in no particular order), the court must consider the factors articulated in these sections of the Utah Code when making a legal and physical…

What will happen if the child refuses to go with the custodial parent?

What will happen if the court ruled in favor of a mother to have the custody of her child but the child refuses to go with her and she prefers to stay with the father? This situation (and this question)…

What is the argument for hearing a child’s view in a custody decision?

What argument supports taking the views of a child into account when making custody determination? The argument is this: the judge cannot determine if such evidence is relevant if the judge never actually has such evidence to consider. In Utah (where I practice divorce…

Why isn’t 50/50 custody the default resolution in child custody cases?

I have studied this question throughout my career, and I’ve been a divorce and family lawyer for 25 years. If there is one family law question to which I know the answer, it is this one. Eventually, a rebuttable presumption…

Twitchell v. Twitchell – 2022 UT App 49 – child custody and support

April 18, 2022

Divorce Utah

Appeal, Best Interest of the Child, Child Custody, Child Support, Child Support Calculation, Children in Divorce, Coping With Divorce, Court Orders, Court Rules, Custody, Dirty Tricks, Divorce, Divorce Court, Divorce Fears, Divorce Law, Divorce Mistakes, Divorce Preparedness, Divorce Procedure, Domestic Violence, Family Law, Fathers' Divorce Issues, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Judges, Legal System, Men's Divorce Issues, Mothers' Divorce Issues, Parent Time, Parental Fitness, Parenting Plan, Physical Custody, Preparing for Divorce, Procedure and Evidence, Sole Custody, Utah Code, Utah Court of Appeals Decisions, Utah Court Rules, Utah Law, Visitation, Women's Divorce Issues

appeal, calculation, child custody, Child Support, child support obligation, conclusions of law, deviate, district court, divorce decree, Domestic Violence, evidence, findings of fact, income, moral character, neglect, Parent Time, physical abuse, physical custody, statutory minimum schedule, trial court, Utah Code § 30-3-10, Utah Code § 30-3-34, Utah Code § 30-3-35, Utah Code § 30-3-35.5, Utah Code § 78B-12-203, Utah Court of Appeals

Twitchell v. Twitchell – 2022 UT App 49 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS JAZMIN S. TWITCHELL, Appellee, V. JOSEPH N. TWITCHELL, Appellant. Opinion No. 20200546-CA Filed April 14, 2022 First District Court, Logan Department The Honorable Brian G. Cannell No.…

Why do kids talk and text online so freely with strangers?

Why do kids talk and text online so freely with strangers? Don’t they understand how potentially dangerous that is? Why? Because kids that age aren’t very smart or wise. Don’t you remember how stupid and foolish you were as a…

Hinds v Hinds-Holm – 2022 UT App 13 – child custody award factors

Hinds v Hinds-Holm – 2022 UT App 13 THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS BRADLEY HINDS, Appellee, v. RACHEL HINDS-HOLM, Appellant. Opinion No. 20200586-CA Filed January 27, 2022 Third District Court, Salt Lake Department The Honorable James T. Blanch No. 174905091…

What if a parent sued their child for all the money they spent raising them?

January 28, 2022

Divorce Utah

Child Care Costs, Child Care/Surrogate Care, Child Support, Judges, Parent Time, Parental Fitness, Parental Rights, Uncategorized

child, Child Support, family finances, finances, judge, lawsuit, parent, parenting, sue

What would happen if a parent were to sue a child for every single penny they spent on raising such a child and the judge were to rule in the parent’s favor? You’d likely have an incompetent and/or biased judge. …

The way UT courts conduct custody evaluations nowadays is indefensible

The way courts in Utah conduct custody evaluations nowadays is indefensible. There is nothing in UCJA rule 4-903 (the rule governing custody evaluations) that requires a custody evaluation to consist of little more than educated guesses. Yet the custody evaluation process in…

How do I pursue child visitation when I don’t know where the child is?

I’m preparing to begin pursuing child visitation. However, the child’s mother has moved and never told me where, and has cut off contact with me. How can I find out where she is now, or would getting a lawyer to…

Why does paternity leave benefit everyone?

December 20, 2021

Divorce Utah

Co-parenting, Family Law, Parent Time, Parental Rights, Parenting Plan, Paternity

co-parenting, Father's rights, maternity leave, men, newborn child, parents, paternity leave, women

I’m not sure it does (and this comes from the father of four children himself). A little paternity leave would do no harm in most cases, but I’m not sure it confers any substantial or significant personal or societal benefits. …

How do I best explain to my daughters that I am divorcing their stepmom?

November 17, 2021

Divorce Utah

Child Custody, Children in Divorce, Divorce, Extramarital affairs/Adultery, Parent Time, Parentage, Stepchildren, Stepparents

adultery, affair, Children in Divorce, divorce problems, domestic case, parenting, stepchildren, stepparents

What is the best way for me to explain to my 3 daughters that the reason in which I am divorcing their Assistant Prosecutor stepmother is because I wouldn’t let her legally adopt them and that I had an affair…

How do I get custody back of my child if the custodial parent is not keeping the child safe?

The best way to phrase this question is as follows, “How do I get an order awarding custody of our child to me, if I assert as the basis for my petition that the custodial parent is not keeping the…

How Courts Can (and often do) Ensure There’s No Proof Joint Equal Custody Can Work

Here is an example of an important gotcha factor to be on guard against, if you are a good father being forced by the legal system to fight for joint equal custody (I do know that there are also mothers…

Why do I pay the child support knowing my kids are living in other countries?

Child support is for the financial support of your children, not a fee (or “ransom”) you pay to keep the children near you. Regardless of where your children live, they still require financial support. Simply living in another country or…

Pro-fairness and Pro-child

Pro-fairness and Pro-child Recently, public service YouTube channel I run (UFTLV – Utah Family Law TV – not run by or run to support Utah Family Law, LC) received a comment on this video: Do you think it’s fair that…

How does the legal system protect the visitation rights of non-custodial parents?

How? Not very well, generally. But before I elaborate, let’s ask and answer this question first: is the legal system designed to protect the visitation (“visitation” is also known as “parent-time”) rights of noncustodial parents? The answer to that question…