Divorce in Utah – When Things Go Right in Court – Good News

You know, sometimes things go absolutely perfectly in court.  Let me give you an example.

About a month ago, my client and I went to court.  This was for an evidentiary hearing.  An evidentiary hearing is when witnesses take the stand in the courtroom and evidence is presented to the court and testimony from witnesses is provided.

My client was a little nervous.  He had only been in court once time before.  He was now going to testify.

I called my client as a witness.  He testified about the facts of the case.  We outlined every element of our case.

The judge then heard from the other side.  The judge actually considered a continuance of the hearing.  A continuance is when the judge post-pones the hearing to another date and time.  The reason the judge wanted to continue the case was because the judge thought that there should be other witnesses about other issues that he should listen to.  I promptly notified the judge that, that was not a good idea. In fact, I informed the judge that the other potential witnesses could not provide any further relevant evidence than the information the judge had already received directly from the parties themselves.

The judge ultimately agreed with me and, instead of ruling at that very moment.  The judge took the matter under advisement.  What that means is that the judge would think about it, maybe do some additional research on the issue, and in the coming weeks, the judge would make a ruling.  It is rather uncommon for a judge to do that. Most judges make decisions right away; however, I’ve never been opposed to a judge taking their time and making sure they get the facts and law correct in issuing the court’s decision.

That was nearly 30 days ago and today, the judge issued the decision.

We won.

Not only did we win, but the judge even awarded our client attorney’s fees and costs!  That is a major win in my book.  Our client has received a 5 figure award based on our work.

I cannot tell you how gratifying it is to win big for our clients.  There are never two cases that are exactly the same.  There are some cases that mediate and settle quickly.  There are other cases that resolve slowly over time.  This case has been going on for way too long because the other side delayed the proceedings longer than they should have.

Our client is happy and excited at this victory.  I though you should hear about this success as well.  We try to focus on education and providing you with answers to your questions in the articles and information we put out.  We obviously keep our client’s confidences. They don’t want their private information posted everywhere.  So that is why the information contained in here is somewhat vague.  We will be posting some more testimonials in the next month or so.

In the meantime, please drop us a line or call us if you have any questions or concerns.  We want to help you with your divorce or child custody case.  Yes, we do all types of family law and even adoptions.

Thanks for visiting.

Call me when you are ready to move forward in your divorce in Utah 801-676-5507.

 

Divorce in Utah

Guardian Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 876-5875

SEO by Jeremy Eveland

source http://lawyerdivorceutah.com/2016/11/23/divorce-in-utah-2/

How Do I File For Divorce From a Common Law Marriage in Utah

Thanks for coming back to visit us to learn about divorce in Utah.

Yesterday, I was asked the question: How Do I File for Divorce From a Common Law Marriage in Utah?

In order to properly answer this question, we need to be very extensive because in order to get divorced, you have to be married. Let me explain:

There is no such thing as a common law marriage in Utah. It simply doesn’t exist. However, you can file a case in Utah and ask the court to make a decision that you have entered into a marriage-like relationship. In order to do that, you need to provide evidence to the court that you are in fact, in a marriage like relationship. This means that you have commingled your assets. You have purchased a home together for example. You have put each other on your bank accounts. You have joint cars. You are both on your phone bill and cable bills. You tell other people that you are married. You both wear wedding rings. There are many other things that you can do to show the court that you have a marriage like relationship.

Once the court enters an order that you have a marriage like relationship and orders that your relationship is a marriage, then you can proceed in court to have assets divided up, child custody and child support awarded, alimony or spousal support awarded and any other issue that would be determined in a regular divorce case.

Retirement assets, investment accounts, business ownership, and all other types of assets would also be subject to a determination that you were in a marriage like relationship. Debts would also be covered in this type of proceeding. Credit cards would need to be divided up, medical bills, dental bills, car loans, etc. would all needed to be extinguished by the parties through this divorce process.

Even though the term common law marriage does not exist in Utah – there is a marriage like relationship which the Utah courts to recognize if you have evidence of it and you can get divorced under these circumstances.

If you are ready to get a “common law” divorce, please give our office a call 801-676-5506. We would love to be able to assist you in this and all of your family law related matters.

I hope you have found this article informative.

Thanks for visiting.

common law divorce

Guardian Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 876-5875

source http://lawyerdivorceutah.com/2016/11/18/how-do-i-file-for-divorce-from-a-common-law-marriage-in-utah/

Utah Divorce Process

Today I was asked about the Utah Divorce Process.  Most people know that divorce is different in each state.  For example, Utah has s a much different divorce process than in the State of Nevada or California.

So, if you’ve lived in Utah for at least 3 months, congratulations, you can file for divorce in Utah because your meet the jurisdictional requirement.  So what is the process of divorce in Utah?  I’ll outline it for you:

The first step is to draft and file a petition for divorce with the district court in the county where you have resided for the last 3 months.  The petition is also called a complaint by some and it is essentially a lawsuit against your husband or wife to end the marriage relationship.  Utah law sees the marriage as a contract that needs to be broken and terminated.

In the petition, you need to outline everything that you want to see happen in the divorce case.  You also need to outline how the court you are filing in is the proper forum to hear the case.  You need to list any kids that you have together, if any.  If you have children, child support and child custody are issues that must be addressed.  You need to put down your assets and how they are to be divided as well as any debt or other financial obligations.  Once the petition has been drafted and filed with the court, you also have to file a Utah Vital Statistics form.

You then need to draft a summons and have the petition and summons served on your spouse.  This has to be done by a person who is over the age of 18 and not interested in your case – meaning they aren’t related to you.  Once your spouse is serve, a return of service, also called an affidavit of service, is filed with the court.

Here is a brief video that explains the process –

In Utah, there is a 90 day waiting period before a judge will sign the divorce decree and finalize your divorce case.

If your spouse files a response to the petition, also called an Answer, then the court will issue a scheduling order and then the discover process starts.

Most cases do go to mediation if the case is not resolved between the parties.  After the discovery and mediation process is done, then the case can go to trial and the judge will enter a divorce decree based on the outcome at trial.

I believe that this information gives you a general outline of the entire Utah divorce process.  There are all sorts of complexities that can show up in a lawsuit for divorce.  This is why you are always best advised to meet with a family law attorney who regularly goes to divorce court.

If you’ve found this information helpful, please leave us a comment.

If you have other questions, please let us know and we’ll do a video or blog post about it.  We want you to understand divorce and, if you need an attorney,  I would hope that you’d give me a call to discuss your case.  We do offer free consultations.  Call me 801-676-5506

Thank you!

Utah Divorce Process

 

Guardian Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 876-5875

SEO by:Jeremy Eveland

source http://lawyerdivorceutah.com/2016/11/16/utah-divorce-process/

Physical Custody

http://Guardian-Law.com

Since the last post was on the topic of custody, specifically legal custody in the State of Utah – today I wanted to address the question:

What is Physical Custody?

Physical Custody is where the child spends the night.

I know, often times we think that Physical Custody is where is the child right now, physically – or where does the child spend most of his or her time?  Which parent has more “time” with the children?

Not so.

The only question is where do the kids go to sleep at night?  Do they sleep at grandma and grandpas?  Do they sleep at dad’s house?  Are they sleeping in their rooms with mom?  Those are the questions.

When it comes to Physical Custody we look at how many overnights are at which household.  There are 365 days in a year.  If you want to have a joint Physical Custody situation – then someone gets 182 overnights with the kids and someone else get 183 overnights.  Whomever has the most overnights wins.

I want sole custody.

Okay, if you want sole Physical Custody of the children, you need to have more than 255 overnights with the kids per year.  If you do that, you have what we consider sole physical custody of the kids.  The moment someone else gets 111 or more overnights per year – we are now looking at a joint physical custody situation.

Of course, Sole Physical Custody can also be many more overnights per year that 255 – but that is the starting point.  We have been involved in cases where one parent has about 15 overnights per year.  Now that’s hardly anything.  Minimum standard parent-time gives you every other weekend and one night a week.

I hope this has been helpful when it comes to overnights and Physical Custody.

If you have other questions for us, please give us a call 801-676-5506.  We look forward to helping you!

Family Law Attorney Salt Lake City Utah

 

Guardian Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 876-5875

source http://lawyerdivorceutah.com/2016/11/14/physical-custody-in-utah/

Legal Custody

I had the most interesting question today about legal custody.

So what is legal custody?

Legal custody is the ability to make legal decisions on your child’s behalf.  When you child is a minor, you, as a parent, can make (1) medical decisions on your child’s behalf; (2) you can make religious decisions on your child’s behalf; and (3) you can make educational decisions for your child.

That is what legal custody is.

If you are in a divorce proceedings or a child custody/paternity proceeding, one of the many issues before the court is: who should be awarded legal custody of the minor children.

In Utah, the legislature has enacted Utah Code Section 30-3-10 which states that there is a rebuttable presumption that joint legal custody is in the best interest of the child.  The ways you overcome a joint legal custody situation in Utah is by showing:

(a) domestic violence;

(b) special mental or physical needs of the child or parent which makes joint legal custody impracticable;

(c) physical distance making joint legal custody too difficult; or

(d) any other good reason not to order joint legal custody.

Question: Do you want to fight about Legal Custody?

Answer: Maybe.  It really depends on your specific situation.  You may want to because your ex-spouse might be extremely difficult to deal with.  If that’s the case, you should fight.  Has your ex been abusive?  Then you should seek sole legal custody.  Every event in your life that has led to the decision to divorce will help you know which route you should pursue in your divorce case.

 

When you are ready for divorce or need help in your case, give us a call 801-676-5506 – we are happy to help you with your legal custody questions.

Thanks for visiting and we hope to see you back soon.

Utah Divorce Lawyer

Mike Anderson

Guardian Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 876-5875

SEO by Jeremy Eveland

source http://lawyerdivorceutah.com/2016/11/08/legal-custody/