When custody of minor children will be an issue in the divorce proceedings, your children generally must have resided in Utah for a minimum of six months before you can file. Consult an Attorney You aren’t required to use an attorney in order to file for divorce in Utah.
In Utah, you do not need the consent of your spouse to obtain a divorce. You simply need to show that the marriage is irretrievably broken. This can be done be either party.
If there are minor children, they will also need to resolve issues of child custody and support. In order to file for divorce in Utah, the party filing for divorce must be a resident of Utah and the county for at least 3 months. The case must be filed in the District Court in the county where the residency requirement is met.
If caught, they could face civil and even possible criminal penalties. When a spouse is served with papers in a divorce in Utah, they have 21 days to file a response (30 days if served outside the state). If a party does not answer a complaint within the allotted timeframe, the other party can seek a default judgment.
To get a no-fault divorce in Utah you need to state in the Complaint for Divorce that “there are irreconcilable differences in the marriage,” or the parties have been living separate and apart without cohabitation for 3 years under a judicial decree of separation.”
The Utah Courts offer an Online Court Assistance Program (OCAP) to help divorcing couples prepare divorce paperwork without an attorney. There are separate packages of forms for the spouse who initiates the divorce proceeding (the "petitioner") and the other spouse (the "respondent").
In Utah, there is no minimum time period that you need to be separated before a divorce is granted. No matter how long you have been separated, the court will grant your divorce 91 days after filing.
3. Is there an advantage to file for divorce first? The simple answer is no, there is no advantage to the spouse filing for divorce first. The spouse who files for divorce is called the petitioner.
Dating during divorce can have legal consequences both for the divorcing spouse and their new partner. Dating while separated can hold up and complicate the divorce proceedings, can effect custody and visitation decisions, and rarely but possibly, depending on the state, may be grounds for a lawsuit.
In states like Utah, abandonment occurs when one spouse willfully deserts the family—both physically and financially—for one year or more. Other states have even longer time periods before one spouse's absence can be construed as desertion.
Depending on the type of case, a custody order can come from a district court or a juvenile court. Utah's divorce laws control how custody works, even if the parties were never married. Most orders award custody to one or both parents of the minor child.
Utah law does not require a marriage be “long term” before a court can award alimony. Rather length of the marriage is but one of many factors the court considers in deciding whether to award alimony (and if so how long and the amount).
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3 monthsAn uncontested divorce in Utah requires an average of 3 months to complete. A contentious divorce, on the other hand, might take 9 months or longer, depending on the complexity of marital assets. Yet, even the fastest marriage termination won't be shorter than 30 days which equals the divorce waiting period in Utah.
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Generally speaking, the actual act of dating while your divorce is pending will not affect the outcome of a divorce. While you are still legally married to another person, the court distinguishes between pre- and post-separation relationships.
Under Utah law, alimony automatically ends when either spouse dies or the recipient spouse remarries. When the recipient spouse remarries, alimony ends automatically and the paying spouse does not need to file a motion or return to court for an order terminating the alimony award.
Custody means power to care for and make decisions for someone else. In Utah, custody may be a separate case or part of a case for divorce, separate maintenance, temporary separation, annulment, parentage, adoption, neglect and dependency, or termination of parental rights.
Depending on the type of case, a custody order can come from a district court or a juvenile court. Utah's divorce laws control how custody works, even if the parties were never married. Most orders award custody to one or both parents of the minor child.
Parent-time. Parent-time, also known as "visitation," means the time the non-custodial parent spends with a child. When parents cannot agree on a parent-time schedule, state law provides for a minimum parent-time schedule: Children 5-18 (Utah Code Section 30-3-35) Children under 5 (Utah Code Section 30-3-35.5)
With this arrangement, the children live with both parents. Both parents make important decisions about their children. Joint custody works best when both parents communicate well together. Joint legal custody means both parents work together to make decisions about major issues affecting the children.
Joint legal custody does not affect the children's residence. Joint physical custody means the children live at least 111 nights a year in the home of each parent. Joint physical custody works best when both parents live in the same general area.
There are two parts to custody: legal custody and physical custody . Legal custody is about who has the right to make important decisions about the children. Physical custody is about where the children live. Utah recognizes several custody arrangements for minor children. These include:
The Utah State Courts mission is to provide the people an open, fair, efficient, and independent system for the advancement of justice under the law.
Many Utah divorce issues are resolved during this stage in the process, eliminating the need for a trial in front of a judge.
If your spouse responds to your divorce filing, Utah statute requires that both parties take part in a mediation session before a divorce will be granted. The parties are jointly responsible for locating and paying for a mediator.
If you have hired a divorce lawyer, they can help you prepare for the trial, including assembling any documents and necessary evidence to be presented to the court. Arrive at the courtroom early on the day of your trial, dressed professionally and with any witnesses that you intend to call upon.
If you disagree with your spouse regarding child custody or child support issues, you can request that a professional evaluator conduct a custody evaluation. During this evaluation, the evaluator will observe both parties and the children; the evaluator will then submit a report to the court on all factors that pertain to the child’s best interests.
After filing your divorce petition, you have 120 days to serve this petition, a summons and any other filed documents to your spouse. Service can be completed via certified mail or by the sheriff’s department or a private company. Proof of service is required to have the court act on your divorce petition.
Sometimes there are issues that must be addressed before the divorce order is final, such as who can use the marital home or who has custody of any minor children during the pending divorce. In these cases, either party can request that the judge issue a temporary order on the matter that will be effective through the final divorce decree.
If not, you may use the state’s Online Court Assistance Program (OCAP) to prepare the divorce petition and related documents; there is a $20 fee for using this service. Completed forms must be notarized by a notary public before they can be filed.
Grounds for divorce are legally recognized reasons to get a divorce. This is the justification for severing the marital relationship. Utah, like most states, has what are commonly called no-fault grounds for divorce, and several traditional fault-based grounds.
In Utah or elsewhere, divorce for any married couple will accomplish two things: (1) severing the marital relationship, and (2) dividing assets and debts. If they have been married for a significant length of time and one of them will be unable to be self-supporting after the divorce, the issue of alimony may also arise.
The simplest procedure is an uncontested divorce where you and your spouse reach an agreement about the division of your property, and, if you have any children, what arrangements will be made for them. You begin the divorce procedure by filing a Complaint for Divorce, along with various supporting documents. For an uncontested divorce, one of these documents will be a marital settlement agreement outlining the division of assets, and your agreement regarding any children. These documents are filed with the court, and copies of them are provided to your spouse. You will attend a court hearing, at which time the judge will make sure that all of your paperwork is in order, perhaps ask you a few questions, and enter your Decree of Divorce.
Alimony is limited to a period of time equal to the number of years of marriage, unless the court finds extenuating circumstances. Alimony terminates upon the death or remarriage of the party receiving alimony, or upon evidence that the party receiving alimony is cohabitating with another person.
Absent an agreement of the parties regarding alimony, the court is directed by Utah alimony law to consider the following factors in determining alimony: the financial condition and needs of the party seeking alimony, the earning capacity or ability to produce income of the party seeking alimony,
In order to file for divorce in Utah, the party filing for divorce must be a resident of Utah and the county for at least 3 months. The case must be filed in the District Court in the county where the residency requirement is met.
If you and your spouse can reach an agreement on custody, it will be accepted by the judge unless it is determined not to be in the child’s best interest. If you cannot reach a custody agreement, the judge will decide the issue, after considering all relevant factors, including:
When you file for divorce in Utah, one of the best things you can do is to arm yourself with the information you’ll need to see you through the process from start to finish. Divorce can be intimidating and disruptive on many levels, and the best way to minimize the impacts on your life is to do your homework so that you can best protect yourself as ...
File Your Documents. In Utah, paperwork must be filed with the district court in the county in which at least one of the parties has lived for at least three months immediately before filing the divorce petition. For more details on filing, go here. You must then serve your spouse with copies of the divorce papers to legally make them aware ...
The type of divorce you choose sets the tone for how you will go about reaching a resolution.
The Utah courts also have an online document preparation tool called the Online Court Assistance Program (OCAP) you can use to prepare divorce paperwork as well.
Service of process must be completed before a divorce case can proceed in Utah. After paperwork has been submitted, a petitioner has 120 days to serve the defendant. Proof of Service must be attached to all paperwork submitted with the court.
A key element is that the former spouse must have been married to the former servicemember for a minimum of 10 years while the military member has served on active duty. Child support and spousal support are determined by Utah state guidelines.
You must be a resident of a single county in Utah for a minimum of three months before you can file for divorce in the state. If custody of a minor child is an issue, usually the child must reside with at least one of the parents in Utah for at least six months, but there are exceptions.
According to Utah law, the Petitioner (the one filing the divorce) or the Respondent (the spouse that must respond to the filing for divorce) must be residents of the county where the divorce is filed for at least three months prior to the actual filing. So, if you live in Ogden and you want to file a divorce in the Weber County court, you (or your soon-to-be-ex-spouse) must have lived in Weber County for at least three months before you file your divorce. While this doesn’t initially seem like a big deal, it certainly can be. We have litigated divorces before where getting the case dismissed because the three-month residency rule wasn’t met turned out to be hugely advantageous to our client.
If you’re asking for any kind of joint custody (joint legal or joint physical) then you must file a parenting plan. A parenting plan is exactly what it sounds like: a plan for parenting children. These plans may include provisions about how both parties should maintain a stable, loving, and consistent relationship with the child; how healthcare and daycare should be managed; how certain decisions should be made regarding the child’s various activities, etc. Forgetting to include a parenting plan can prohibit you from getting what you’re asking for in the early stages of your divorce, like in a temporary orders hearing.
There is a fee for both of these classes. The Divorce Education course is $35 and the Divorce Orientation course is $30, but you can get a discount if you attend the course soon after the divorce was filed. More importantly, however, is the fact that some courts will not allow you to pursue certain remedies or won’t schedule certain hearings unless you’ve completed these courses.
The first document you file with the court will be your Petition for Divorce. This document will set forth everything you’re asking for: legal and physical custody, child support, alimony, your favorite dishes, that kitchen table your parents gave you, and money out of the joint savings account. Occasionally we have clients that don’t want to come across too harsh in this initial filing, so they ask us to draft up a document that they hope won’t offend their spouse. We remind our clients about two main things:
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Anything you ask for in your initial papers can be bargained away in negotiation. So, if as you move through the divorce process you find your spouse being surprisingly agreeable and fair, you can return the favor and discard some of those terms that were in your initial filing.
Whenever you file for divorce you must file a “military service affidavit,” or proper documentation showing that the spouse you’re divorcing isn’t away on military duties and has the ability to answer the divorce. If you do have a spouse serving in the military, make sure you time your filing appropriately. Having a spouse get deployed in the middle of a custody battle can complicate things, as you can imagine.
Spouse’s Default. When a spouse is served with papers in a divorce in Utah, they have 21 days to file a response (30 days if served outside the state). If a party does not answer a complaint within the allotted timeframe, the other party can seek a default judgment.
Some of the factors include: moral and financial conduct of the parents.
In general, assets acquired during a marriage through a date of separation are considered marital property, except in some cases of gifts or inheritance.
Disclosing assets is required in Utah so that an equitable distribution of assets can take place. Once information has been disclosed, there is a legal obligation to update information as it changes or becomes available.
Utah law establishes Child Support Guidelines to calculate a parent’s child support obligation. The exact amount is driven primarily by each parents’ income. The guidelines have three components:
Both parents are legally responsible for supporting their minor children in Utah. This obligation continues until a child turns 18 or has completed high school, whichever is later.
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Utah courts decide child custody whenever parents can't come to an agreement on their own. Yet even in cases where parents agree on custody and visitation, a judge will review a custody agreement to ensure it serves a child's best interests. Utah family courts must consider several factors when deciding child custody in Utah, including:
Parents with joint physical custody will spend substantial, but not necessarily equal amounts of time with the child. The parent who spends the most time with the child is typically designated as the "custodial parent". The other parent is called the "noncustodial parent.". See Utah Code § 30-3-10.2 (2020).
A child's preference is one of several factors a judge will weigh in a Utah custody case. The child's age and maturity matters. Specifically, a judge will give more weight to an older child's preference, such as a child over 14. Generally, a judge won't give much consideration to a child's wishes if the child is under 10. In one Utah family court case, an 11-year old boy stated a preference to live with his father, but the judge said that an 11-year old shouldn't have control over where he lives.
Utah custody laws allow either parent to file a custody modification request if there's been a material change in circumstances affecting the child or parents or more than 3 years have passed since entry of the previous custody order. In either situation, the parent requesting a custody change must show that the modification would serve the child's best interests.
A child's preference is one of several factors a judge will weigh in a Utah custody case. The child's age and maturity matters. Specifically, a judge will give more weight to an older child's preference, such as a child over 14. Generally, a judge won't give much consideration to a child's wishes if the child is under 10.
A noncustodial parent without joint custody is entitled to minimum visitation under Utah's custody laws. Generally, this equates to one weeknight per week with the child and overnight visits every other weekend. A judge can award a parent additional visitation time, but not less.
Under Utah custody laws, your custody order must set forth a visitation schedule covering weekly, monthly, holiday, and summer visits. Both parents are entitled to regular time with their child and neither parent can prevent visits. Even in cases where a parent has struggled with substance abuse or physical violence, a judge may award that parent visitation – usually supervised.