Do You Have to File for Separation Before You Can Get Divorced in Utah 801-676-5506

Do You Have to File for Separation

Do You Have to File for Separation Before You Can Get Divorced in Utah?

We get this question on a regular basis.

And the quick answer is No.

In the State of Utah, you are not required to file for Separation before you can get divorced.

Here is a video that we did about what makes a separation agreement legal:

Now, with that said, some people want to file for legal separation prior to actually getting divorced.

In fact, we finalized a legal separation just about a week ago. The majority of the time, people do want to get divorced. The main reason for this is because if you only get a legal separation, you are still married and you cannot remarry. Additionally, if you have sex with another person other than your spouse, you are committing adultery (even though you are separated).

Why just get a separation then?

Well sometimes you might not be 100% sure you want to get a divorce. Sometimes you just need a break. We’ve had cases were we do a divorce and then the couple reunites and remarries. Another reason some people choose to get a legal separation other than a divorce is for insurance benefits. You see, once you get divorced you lose the ability to be on your spouse’s insurance policy.

All of these issues are important to consider in your situation.

Do you want some advice from a Divorce Lawyer?

Here is my advice:

A divorce is great for people who are sure that divorce is the option they are choosing. If, however, you are still unsure whether you really want to get a divorce or not, consider a legal separation. Although it is not mandatory and you do not need to get legally separated prior to a divorce in Utah, if you are still hoping for healing in your marriage or trying to work things out and you just need a break, then seriously consider a legal separation.

I hope this has been helpful to you.

You can always visit our main site where we have additional information about Divorce in Utah, Alimony, Child Support, Asset Division, etc. Click Here to visit that site.

If you still have questions, we offer a free, no obligation initial consultation, just give us a call 801-676-5506, we’re happy to assist you with your case.

Ascent 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/2016/12/28/do-you-have-to-file-for-separation/

How Do I Go About Getting Full Custody of my Child?

Received this question today —

Q: How Do I Go About Getting Full Custody of my Child?

I love good questions like this one. Give me a second to think and respond: Tell me what your custody situation looks like right now.

The reason this is so important is because in Utah, the Court Commissioners and Judges will usually award custody in a situation in which it currently exists (with some exceptions of course).

So, think about this situation for a moment. You want full custody. Full custody in legal terms means sole physical custody (in my mind). Sole physical custody means that if there are 365 days in a year, you have your child at least 255 overnights or more and the other parent would have 110 overnights or less. This is the minimum number of overnights that you need to have sole physical custody.

Some has asked us about how do they keep the other parent from ever seeing their child. This is difficult unless the other parent has serious issues (think child endangerment or worse). If that is your situation, call us right away to discuss emergency options.

If the other parent ever gets more than 110 overnights in a year, then you are looking at a joint custody situation. So, the trick is to have this in place before you go to court.

Watch this video I created:

Think about it.

If you already have a sole physical custody (or full custody) situation in place before you go to court, then the argument that is made to the judge will look something like this:

“Good Morning your Honor.

Michael Anderson, appearing on behalf of [inset your name here], the Petitioner in this matter.

Your Honor, the reason we are here today is to have an order put in place which awards my client sole physical custody of the parties’ minor child.

This is appropriate here your Honor, because this is that status quo. Over the last year, my client has had 255 overnights with the minor child and the Respondent has only had 110 overnights. This is the status quo your Honor, it has been this way for over a year and the court should maintain the status quo.

Additionally your Honor, the court should award my client sole physical custody because… [fill in the other reasons here].”

This is a sample of what my oral argument would look like if we went to court to get you full custody.

My recommendation is this – if you want full custody, get all the overnights you can with your child. If the other parent has “issues” don’t let the other parent have overnights until the issues are resolved. If you do, then you are telling the court from your behavior, that there are no issues; otherwise, you would simply allow those overnights to take place.

Let me give you an example.

If you want the other parent to have a separate bedroom for your child and he or she doesn’t; then, don’t let them have overnights until this is resolved. If you do, you are telling the court that the child not having a separate bedroom is important to you; otherwise, you would be withholding parent time.

Now, with all this said, don’t forget that if you unreasonably withhold parent time from the other parent, you might end up looking like “the bad guy” — no one wants this. So make sure you do everything on the up and up.

I hope you have found this information helpful.

If you need help with a child custody or divorce case, give us a call. Thanks!

Divorce in Utah

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
Fax:(801) 676-5508

SEO byJeremy Eveland

source http://lawyerdivorceutah.com/2016/12/21/how-do-i-go-about-getting-full-custody-of-my-child/

What Should You Do If I Get Served With Divorce Papers

Free Divorce Lawyer Consutation

So, you’ve been served divorce papers. To put it bluntly- it sucks.

Lots of people are unable to think clearly once they’ve obtain divorce papers. It is a stressful, anxiety filled time once you’ve been served. After you have calmed down, the first thing you should do is read the papers. If you can’t get yourself to read them, you should speak with a family law attorney right away. A divorce lawyer will be able to go through the Summons and the Petition for Divorce with you and let you know what your spouse wants in the divorce. It is important that you do this quickly because in Utah, once you’ve been served with a divorce summons and complaint, you have 21 days to have y our answer filed with the court. If you don’t have it filed by the 21st day, then you are in default. This is bad.

What You Need to Do

First decide whether you are going to get legal advice and be represented by an attorney or whether you are going to do it yourself. If you are going to do it yourself, go to the court or to the court’s website, and prepare an Answer. An Answer is the written response to the petition for divorce.

If you are hiring an attorney, the attorney will prepare this document for you and file it with the court.

You should consider each paragraph and decide whether you agree with it, disagree with it or don’t know whether you agree or disagree. You need to respond to each paragraph in order.

You may want to consider filing a counter-claim. A counterclaim is when you are suing your spouse back for divorce and you list the conditions and terms that you want in the final decree. In a counterclaim, you can respond to your partner’s allegations, in addition to make your personal accusations as well as ask for terms you desire from the divorce as well. A divorce lawyer will tell you what you should file and why.

Do you have children under the age of 18? If so, then you have more steps to do. You’ll need to attend the divorce education and orientation course. Here is a link for the calendar of the course dates and times:

https://www.utcourts.gov/specproj/dived/

Once the Answer is filed you need to file a financial declaration if children are involved. If there are no children, you need to do this as well. This becomes important if a party is seeking alimony (also called spousal support), then you’ll need to complete one of these too.

Watch this video that has more information about divorce in Utah:

During this entire process you need to be aware of due dates or deadlines. It is very important not to miss a deadline.

When you submit your Answer with the court, you need to give your spouse a duplicate copy (or his/her attorney), just as he/she served divorce papers on you. Declaring and offering your Answer puts both the court and also your spouse on notice that you intend to be involved in the situation. After you’ve done this, the divorce process will include you and you will get copies of all documents going forward.

Mediation.

The next step after financial disclosures is usually mediation. I’ve written about mediation before, but mediation is an attempt to resolve the case without spending years in divorce court.

Being served divorce documents doesn’t have to be a disastrous stage in your life. Just be forceful in taking quick, computed actions in order to establish yourself in the best situation possible for a positive result. Also, do not give up just because you’ve been served divorce papers. Don’t let emotions take over. The Court looks at thousands of divorce cases a year, so it will not have emotion involved. This is another reason you should consider having a lawyer on your side.

If you need help with your divorce in Utah, give us a call for a free initial consultation 801-676-5506. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Ascent 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/2016/12/16/what-should-you-do-if-i-get-served-with-divorce-papers/

Petition to Modify Decree of Divorce

petition to modify decree of divorce

Today a client from a few years contacted me to “change her divorce decree.”

The way you change a divorce decree in the State of Utah is by filing a Petition to Modify Decree of Divorce in the court where the decree was issued. In the case I worked on today, that was in the Third Judicial District Court, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Department.

You can change the terms of your divorce decree when there has been a significant and substantial change in circumstances. In this case, our client originally had 2 minor children with her husband when she got divorced. In her decree, they had a split physical custody situation, which means that one of the 2 children resided with her and the other resided with her husband. This is split custody.

Well, time has passed and now the oldest child is over the age of 18 and no longer lives at home with our client. The other child, who is still a minor, has moved in and started living with our client. Our client now should start receiving child support from her ex-husband because she is caring for the child full time. Her ex-husband refuses to pay any child support.

This is a substantial change in circumstances because there is only 1 minor child between the parties left and that minor child now lives with the other parent. In this case, the court should change the divorce decree and order the dad to pay child support to the mom, who is a stay at home mom with the minor child.

So we drafted a petition to modify the decree of divorce and specifically referenced the sections of the decree that we want changed. We outlined how he should be paying child support to her and covering 1/2 of all of the extracurricular activities, as well as pay half of the medical bills, dental bills and other out of pocket expenses.

Once approved, it will be filed with the court and a summons is then issued and the summons and the petition are served on the father. He will then have 21 days after the date of service to respond.

This video explains the process briefly:

If the father doesn’t respond in the 21 day period, a default will be entered against him. This means that the mother will win for father’s failure to respond.

If the father does respond, then it becomes a contested case. The next step is to do initial disclosures, which requires a financial declaration to be filed with the court, copies of paycheck stubs, bank statements, etc. and the father also has to do this. This also includes a list of potential witnesses that can be used should the case go to trial. The witness list needs to set forth the full name of the potential witness, their address, their phone number, and brief statement about what they would say if called to testify.

Then, the case usually goes into discovery or into mediation depending on how complex the issues are between the parties. In this case, our client will likely not need to do any discovery. Once disclosures are provided, the next step is to attend mediation. We have various mediators that we have used over the years and there are several that are very competent. Most cases do resolve in mediation or prior.

If the case does not successfully conclude in mediation; then, the case is prepared and goes to trial.

This case is pretty straight-forward. Based on the facts alone, the father should be paying child support.

If you need to change the terms of your divorce decree, give us a call and we’d be happy to help you.

Thanks for reading this blog post.

We look forward to working with you.

Ascent 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/2016/12/13/petition-to-modify-decree-of-divorce/

Do I have to Split my 401(k) in Divorce?

We received a question yesterday:

Do I have to Split my 401(k) in Divorce?

Do I Have to Split my 401k in Divorce

The quick answer is yes – but that isn’t entirely true. You see there are many different options to explore before you simply say yes.

Let me explain.

The general answer is that you have to divide your 401k or retirement plan.

Is it a 50/50 split?

Maybe.

In Utah, we follow the Woodward formula. This essentially means that a spouse is entitled to receive one-half of the increase of a retirement account.

Let me give you an example.

If you were married for 20 years and your 401k account increased $100,000 then your spouse will get half of the increased amount if you were to get divorced. In this case, that would be $50,000.00.

If the account when down, then you might not have to pay anything to your spouse because there was no increase.

You actually should speak with an attorney on these types of issues because they are important and you want to protect your rights.

The reason I said maybe above is because maybe you don’t have to split your 401(k) account.

Watch this video for more information:

As you can see after watching the show, you can negotiate the terms of your divorce case. This can be done directly with your spouse, where you agree on all of the terms of the decree or you can attend mediation.

When you do a mediation with an attorney from our office, you will go into a separate room and your spouse goes into a separate room. This is also called shuttle mediation. The mediator is an independent third party negotiator. The mediators we use are trained and some are former judges. The mediator goes back and forth from your room to your spouses room and attempts to get both parties to settle and agree on an outcome in your case.

Most of the time, mediation is successful. If some issues are not resolved in mediation, then those issues can go to court.

Usually, we have clients negotiate for the things that are most important to them. For example, if your 401K plan is the most important thing to you; then it might not be the most important thing to your spouse. You can offer your spouse what they want so you can get what you want. This doesn’t always work, but it can be an effective strategy to employ in mediation.

That’s why I think its a maybe – because sometimes using the tools available to you, you can win.

If you attend mediation with a lawyer, you will be able to protect your rights and usually get the things that are most important to you in your divorce.

When you go to mediation, don’t just focus on your most important item. Be sure to also address credit cards, debt, child support, alimony, cars, the house, child custody, etc. Don’t leave anything out. The more you can take care of, like your retirement account, the better you are.

Remember, no one gets divorced in a minute or in a day. There is at least 3 months you have to wait, so during the waiting period, go to mediation and protect as much of your 401(k) as possible.

We do offer a free initial consultation on family law issues – so if you are getting divorced, or know someone who is, send them over by having them call us at 801-676-5507.

Ask us questions and we’ll answer in a blog post or video post.

Come back soon.

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

SEO by Jeremy Eveland. This blog post is not legal advice. Please contact an attorney to discuss the specifics of your legal matter.

Ascent Law, LLC

4.6
out of 5
based on 21 user ratings.

As of December 7, 2016.

source http://lawyerdivorceutah.com/2016/12/07/do-i-have-to-split-my-401-k-in-divorce/

Divorce Lawyer Sandy Utah 801-676-5507

Divorce Lawyer Sandy Utah

There are essentially five things that you need to understand when you get divorced.

Although everyone would love to have a perfect marriage, when you deal with a hard situation like separation or divorce, you ought to need to take everything with a grain of salt.

Usually divorce goes bit by bit and not instantly – but that’s not always the case.

1. In Utah, the law on divorce differs from other states.  They differ mostly on the disposition of properties; how assets and debt are divided, child custody, length of separation, and the general process for getting divorced.

2. Nowadays, an uncontested divorce, also called a “no-fault” divorce has become much more popular and typical among spouses who get divorced in Utah.  Most of the time, blame is a game that doesn’t need to be played when it can get expensive to pay lawyers to fight in court.  Under a no fault divorce, things can proceed somewhat quicker than in a fault case.  The expense and time can also become more cumbersome if you have minor children.  Child Custody is always something that courts will look at more carefully in a divorce case.

3. In Utah there is a 90 day waiting period. During the period of divorcing, the couple opting for divorce must wait for 90 days from the date the divorce petition was filed with the court before the judge will sign the final decree of divorce. Don’t expect to get re-married right away… although if you need to, we can file a motion and very likely get you divorced quicker.  Give me a call if you want more information about this.

4. Don’t assume that your spouse won’t fight you.  We took on a case just last week where the husband assumed that his wife was going to play nice in the divorce.  Surprise!  This week, her attorney filed a lengthy motion and is trying to get sole custody; rather than the joint custody situation they were planning.  Don’t ever think it’ll go easy until it’s done and over.

5. If you are dealing with a divorce now, you should consider getting a second opinion if your gut tells you something is wrong.  Look, normally, cases get done in 4-6 months.  If your case is taking 12 months or more, you either have a stubborn spouse who doesn’t want to get divorced or you’ve got a ton of money and property to fight about.  Usually no fault cases are done in 4-6 months.  If it’s going longer than that, you should think about getting a second opinion. Call us at 801-676-5507 and see if we can assist you in getting your divorce ended sooner.

Please also watch this youtube video:

 

Guardian Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
Fax:(801) 676-5508

SEO by Jeremy Eveland

source http://lawyerdivorceutah.com/2016/12/01/divorce-lawyer-sandy-utah-2/

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/