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I am a little confused about the Christmas break being a odd number this year. Do I get my kids 12/17/2021 to the 12/25/2021 or 12/26/2021. Because has I read I get them Christmas Eve / day but to my understanding I will only get them half the day Christmas ?
answered on Dec 6, 2021
I am guessing you are referring to the custody schedule as referenced in UCA 30-3-35. If so, my understanding of the Code is that the day does not change, just the time of day custody is exchanged. In years with an odd number of days, the exchange occurs at 1 pm. In years with an even number of... View More 
She works a full time job and he took 30000 that she was paid from her job and a settlement and put it in an account with only his name on it, and she is only asking for half but he is telling her he is keeping it all. He won't give her a penny of it. He also cheated for 13 years.
Creating a trust in utah
answered on Oct 21, 2021
Title companies do not create trusts, attorneys do. You should contact an estate planning attorney to assist you in creating a trust and they will also be able to draft the warranty deed necessary to transfer the property into the trust once created.
Before I turned 18 my parents gained full legal guardianship of me as have Autism. They recently divorced around the same time a renewal of the guardianship was due. My father refused to sign it and I just want to know if that revoked all of his legal rights of being my father? My father was very... View More
answered on Sep 30, 2021
First of all, I hope you are now surrounded by people who love and care for you the way your father SHOULD have loved and cared for you.
As to your question, it depends on whether you remain under your mother's guardianship or not. If you ARE, you should encourage your mother to file... View More
She has never given me a bill or documentation to say other wise. She just sent me a message and the amount and dates and said I need to give her the money. Can I refuse to pay
answered on Sep 28, 2021
It depends on what is in the court Order. Most of the time parties have 30 days after an expense is incurred to provide notice to the party who is supposed to reimburse them. The reimbursing party then has 30 days to pay. If you have received notice of the bills, it is unlikely she can force you to... View More
I am a non-US citizen. My partner is an American biological father. His daughter is 6. Can I adopt his daughter after marrying him?
answered on Sep 21, 2021
Great question. We have some answers. Give us a call 801-546-3874 and ask to speak with Attorney Jason Barnes.
Will this affect our custody agreement at all? Is she likely to be changed with anything?
answered on Aug 17, 2021
Law enforcement is highly unlikely to be interested in taking your case to the prosecutor and, even if they did, the prosecutor is even less likely to be willing to press charges.
There is even less likelihood that the Court responsible for your family law matter would consider this grounds... View More
My son is 15, my ex and i split up when he was 7 and he was spending time between the 2 of us, then one day he tells me if i want to see him again, to take him to court. I never did because my family advised against it, so i haven't seen him in years. Now, he got arrested in Utah and my ex... View More
answered on Jul 27, 2021
So many questions. Were you married? Is the ex on the birth certificate? Was there EVER a custody order entered by any court? How long ago was "one day"? Have you remained in communication with your 15 year old? Does he WANT to live with grandma or with you in Utah? Does grandma have a... View More
Legal for my 12 year old to be home alone with the other 2 from 3 pm to 3to5 am
answered on Jul 16, 2021
Utah Code Annotated 34-23-205 lists "baby-sitting" as a permitted occupation for minors 12 years of age or older, so the short answer to "is it legal" would be yes. The reasonableness of leaving minor children in the care of another minor is subjective and would be reviewed by... View More
My son and I are both members of a federally recognized tribe. We do not live on the reservation. I assume ICWA will apply, but as neither biological father or step father are Native American, I am sure my tribe would consent. Bio father has not contacted my son or paid child support in over 5... View More
answered on Jul 8, 2021
Hello. ICWA is applicable and very complicated when it comes to adoption cases, and the forms on the court's website are for basic adoptions. Honestly, I am surprised that the court's website has adoption forms at all, as there are many varieties of adoption cases and overall they are... View More
I have a rather unusual problem. I live in Utah and am the disconnected part of a polyamorous triad wherein the other two partners happened to get married before they explored polyamory. They happily have a child together and we all have been happy for about five years. Now I am having a child with... View More
answered on Jun 14, 2021
You are correct that you should list yourself as the father on the birth certificate. You need to voluntarily relinquish your parental rights and allow the husband to adopt the child. You need to understand that this will forever extinguish any legal rights you would have with the child (although... View More
I ran away from home recently and DCFS hasn't really been over to tell me where I was going and what I was doing. They came over once to see if I had a place to go and a bed to sleep in, etc. The agent told the family I'm staying with that my father can legally take me home with him... View More
answered on Jun 11, 2021
There is no reason you cannot contact your family and for the sake of your future relationship with them, you should. Until someone else is appointed your guardian, you are emancipated, or you turn 18; yes, your father could take you home. As your parent, he has that right.
In order to be... View More
I've recently ran away from home because my dad has been abusive for years and I have gotten a bunch of support from my friends and my friends got me out of the house. I was in some trouble for another legal thing that I also need answers for. When I ran away I was talking with my local police... View More
answered on Jun 10, 2021
Utah Legal Services may be able to connect you with a local attorney who could help you pro bono (free). The short answer is "yes, you can be emancipated without your parents consent." You will need to show that you can actually support yourself and not rely on the family you are staying... View More
My friend is 19 years old. He recently reported to me that his proctor parents have been opening his mail, and have told him that he has no right to his possessions while under their custody and they can legally do whatever they want with anything of his, including taking away his money earned at... View More
answered on May 21, 2021
It depends. Generally speaking, without any other information regarding your friend's situation. Do the proctor parents have a custody or guardianship order? If they do, they likely have a right to open your friend's mail and may have a right to control his finances. Also, if they... View More
2 years ago dad was put on supervised visits because he is an alcoholic. The mother began to let the kids go with their father without supervision and without going back to court. Now the 14 year old child wants to live with dad. Is that possible?
answered on Feb 3, 2021
I'm having a sense of deja vu with this question. Possible? Almost anything is. Advisable? That depends on whether dad is still an alcoholic. If dad is still an alcoholic, mom lets the 14 year old go live with him, and anything happens to the child; mom could face both civil and criminal... View More
My boyfriend has 3 girls from a previous marriage, two of them are non-biological and he never got to adopt them but they consider him their dad, it's been recently that they want to live with him. What are the laws on this? If he never adopted them but has been in their life since they were... View More
answered on Jan 13, 2021
If the girls and their mother live in Utah, you can file an action for custody and visitation for persons other than parent (see Utah Code Annotated 30-5a-103). I do not believe there are any forms precisely on point on the Utah Court's self-help website... View More
custody is not established. When she was a baby I did have an open ORS case and recieved child support. I closed the case over 3 years ago- and have not had contact with bio father almost 5 years. What do I need to do to next? Is this considered abandonment? Is terminating rights possible at this... View More
answered on Dec 15, 2020
You should have a very strong case for abandonment and termination of parental rights if the sperm donor knew where the child was, had the ability to make contact, and merely failed to make an effort to maintain contact. If he can demonstrate attempts to communicate or show that you interfered with... View More
Child was in utah for years before leaving with mother to flee domestic violence. no custody orders on child have ever been filed. Petitioner was the perpetrator of domestic violence, and is not at all related to child and has never lived with child. Does Utah allow for people to petition for a... View More
answered on Dec 14, 2020
UCCJEA questions are never simple and this forum allows for very few details so remember that this answer is NOT legal advice. That being said, you can FILE for a lot of things; whether or not the Order is enforceable is another matter. It is incredibly difficult to get orders of this nature... View More
Is there a chance to remove my name from DCFS database, and somewhere down the line to adopt my cousins in case they get put into fostercare? i'm willing to undergo any psychological testing or other proof to show i am not a danger.
answered on Dec 7, 2020
My reading of the statute is that being on the child abuse registry alone does not prevent you from adopting a child. I don't know the process, if any, for removing oneself from the child abuse registry, but I have successfully completed an adoption for an individual who was on the registry.... View More
He has missed a lot of visits saying that I am refusing to let our child go (which is untrue), he just never contacts me and/or picks him up. He is now engaged and has started saying I need to meet him in the middle. When we did our divorce papers, he would not agree on a meeting provision, so it... View More
answered on Oct 8, 2020
Meeting in the middle is more or less the default absent a showing of why the arrangement should be different. At least if you arrange to meet in the middle you should know in advance when he is going to exercise parent time. If he fails to show more than once or twice, you likely have a good... View More
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