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

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

Great question. We have some answers. Give us a call 801-546-3874 and ask to speak with Attorney Jason Barnes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'm sorry that you are going through this. The process can be a tricky process. If Utah is the Court with jurisdiction, you can request a "pick up order" in Utah. This order should allow the police to help you regain custody of your children. Once you have the Utah Order, you would... View More

She really needs a Utah family law attorney to ensure her rights are adequately defended. That being said, she should contact the clerk and see if an order issued after the missed hearing or if there had been any additional filings. She may need to ask the Court to set aside any order that was... View More

You will need to file a request / petition / motion (depending on the jurisdiction, it can be called different things) to modify the child support in the court where the child support order was issued UNLESS that court is in a state where neither you, your ex, nor the children still reside. If the... View More