The Utah Courts’ website has a “Frequently Asked Questions” section about getting a divorce in Utah.  Click here for that information.

Some of the information is helpful but a lot of it can be misleading to a person who has no experience or legal training.  For example, under the question about relocation, the site says, “A custodial parent usually is not prohibited from leaving the state with the children.”  In our experience, this is far from the reality of the situation.  We have litigated many cases and even gone to trial on the issue of relocation and the courts have very rarely permitted relocation of the children even when the move would have been with a parent who had sole or primary physical custody.  The courts have often stated that they cannot, and will not, prohibit the custodial parent from moving and they can provide extensive parent-time to that parent, but generally the courts side with the custody evaluator and custody evaluators in Utah have often taken the position that a move is not in the child’s best interest.  On the other hand, relocation certainly has also been permitted in other cases.  This issue usually requires a custody evaluation and can be very litigated and complex.

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