A divorce ends a marriage. After a divorce, you are no longer married. The court issues a divorce decree.
The decree can cover different issues. Visit one of the linked pages below for more information on:
Generally, to file for divorce in Utah, you or your spouse must have lived in a single Utah county for 3 months or more right before filing. There are other ways to qualify, read the Utah Code for more details.
Utah Code Section 81-4-402(1).
If you need a custody order for a child under 18, usually the child needs to live in Utah with one parent for at least 6 months before filing. There are exceptions. Our Finding Legal Help page has resources if you need help.
When you ask for divorce you need to give the court a reason for your divorce. Once reason is that you and your spouse have serious marital problems that cannot be fixed. This is called irreconcilable differences.
You can see all of the other grounds for divorce in Utah Code 81-4-405.
Costs and fees for a divorce can vary. They can include:
If you cannot afford the fees, you can ask the judge to waive them. For more information, see our page on Fee Waiver.
Most court records can be viewed by anyone. However, starting April 1, 2012, divorce records are private.
Only certain people can see divorce records, like:
But the orders and decrees are public. For example if a motion to waive the 30-day waiting period is approved, that order is public and can be vieweed by anyone.
When filing a private document, you say the document iss private. For more information, see our page on Public and Non-public Records.
Some information is always private, like:
Be careful not to include private information in public documents like court orders.
You can use MyPaperwork to prepare the petition and your other divorce papers. Follow the instructions in MyPaperwork.
File with the district court in the county you or your spouse has lived for the past 3 months. See our page on Filing Procedures for more information.
When you file the court will give you a case number and the name of your assigned judge.
If you have children under 18 with your spouse, you must take some required classes within 60 days of filing the petition. There is a discount if you take the in-person classes within 30 days of filing. Learn about the classes on our Required Classes for Parents page.
To Do 1: Fill out your papers with MyPaperwork
Follow the instructions in the system
To Do 2: Organize and file your paperwork
File in the district court in the county you or your spouse has lived for the past 3 months
Need more help? See our page on Filing Procedures.
To Do 3: Take the required classes if you have children under 18
When you file your petition, the court automatically issues an order called a Domestic Relations Injunction. This is to prevent issues while the case is pending.
The injunction says you and your spouse cannot:
There are other rules. Read the injunction carefully.
The injunction starts when you file your petition. It controls your spouse when it is delivered to them. See the Domestic Relations Injunction page for more information.
You might need temporary orders while your case is pending.
Temporary orders cover issues like:
Temporary orders last until the divorce is final. Get forms and information on our How to get a Temporary Order page.
You must give the other person copies of your first court papers. This is called service. Follow these steps:
To Do 1: Gather the organized papers you filed.
To Do 2: Choose how to serve the papers:
In-person delivery: Someone hands papers directly to the person or leaves them at their home with another adult who lives there.
Special delivery: Send your papers to the other party using the U.S. Postal Service or a commercial courier service like FedEx or UPS but get a signature for delivery.
Ask the other party to accept service: If they agree, you can just give them the court papers in a way that works for you both.
To Do 3: Get Proof of Service signed and file it:
Need more guidance? See our page on on serving papers.
You must serve your papers within 120 days of filing your case.
The respondent must officially respond to the divorce petition by the deadline. This is called "filing an answer."
If served in Utah - must answer within 21 days
If served outside Utah - must answer within 30 days
See our page on Answering a Complaint or Petition to learn more.
Read below to see your next step - it will depend on whether or not the respondent answers.
If you have children under 18, both parents must take these classes:
Learn about the classes on our Required Classes for Parents page.
If your children are 6-17 years old, they can also have them take a free online class. It teaches coping strategies for the divorce transition. Mental health professionals teach the children's course.
Enroll your kids by visiting Divorce Education for Children Online.
1. Attend the Case Management Conference
This is a hearing with the court to set dates for your case.
The court might schedule dates for:
The court could schedule other issues. It depends on how complicated your case is.
Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 100A
2. Share your information
You and the respondent must share information about the case. For more information and forms, see the Initial Disclosures web page and the Financial Declarations web page.
The respondent can agree with the divorce petition terms. This is called a stipulation.
If you both agree on everything, use MyPaperwork to make the papers. MyPaperwork allows stipulations when first filing or anytime you reach agreement.
Your final papers must match what your stipulation says. If your final papers say something different, the cour could reject your papers.
Follow MyPaperwork instructions to complete your divorce in your MyPaperwork Divorce Interview.
Have 30 days passed since you filed your petition?
Utah law requires 30 days between filing and finalizing the divorce. This is called the waiting period.
You can ask the court to waive the waiting period if there are extraordinary circumstances.
Get info on filing a motion to waive the waiting period on our Motion to Waive Divorce Waiting Period page.
If the respondent misses the deadline to file an answer, you can ask for a default judgment. This means you get what you asked for in the divorce petition.
You can also get a default judgment if the respondent signed an Acceptance of Service, Appearance, Consent and Waiver form.
Your final papers must match what you asked for in your petition. If your final papers say something different, the cour could reject your papers.
Get default judgment forms in your MyPaperwork Divorce Interview. Some - but not all - of the forms are also available our page on Default Judgments.
Have 30 days passed since you filed your petition?
Utah law requires 30 days between filing and finalizing the divorce. This is called the waiting period.
You can ask the court to waive the waiting period if there are extraordinary circumstances.
Get info on filing a motion to waive the waiting period on our Motion to Waive Divorce Waiting Period page.
If the respondent files an answer, you usually must mdiation before your case can move forward. Mediation is a meeting where both parties try to resolve their differences by talking with neutral third person, the mediator. See our page on Divorce Mediation for more information.
You or the respondent can ask the court to skip mediation if needed. Get forms from and information on our Motion to Excuse Mediation page.
If you come to an agreement in mediation, use your MyPaperwork Divorce Interview prepare the your final papers.
MyPaperwork might not produce all the papers you need to finish your case. What else you need to file will mostly depend on whether or not you have children. You can look at these checklists to see what is required:
The following procedures apply only if the parties are not able to reach an agreement about what the divorce decree should say.
You or the respondent can ask for a custody evaluation. This is done by a professional evaluator. The judge can order a custody evaluation even without a motion from a party. A custody evaluation may be expensive. The cost is usually split between you and the respondent. Our page on Custody Evaluation has more information.
Utah Code of Judicial Administration 4-903
See the Getting Ready for Trial web page for information about going to trial.
The parties are not divorced until the judge signs the decree.
If you disagree with the judge's decisions and thinks they made a legal mistake, you can file an appeal. You must do so within 30 days after final entry of the divorce decree. See our page on Appeals for more information.
If there is a clerical mistake in the decree, your or the respondent can ask the court to correct the decree. A clerical mistake is something like if the monthly child support payment amount is supposed to be $300 but was listed as $30. Our Motion to Correct Clerical Mistake has information and forms.
You or the respondeent can ask the court to enforce the divorce decree.
You or the respondent can also enforce enforce temporary orders.
Our page on Motion to Enforce Order has forms and information.
To get a copy of your divorce decree, contact the court that handled the divorce case. Use the Court Directory to find contact details.
The court charges a fee for copies. There special types of copies for extra fees:
A certified copy of a court record is dated, signed, and stamped by the Clerk of Court. They certify that the copy is a true copy of the court record.
An exemplified court record is an authenticated copy of a certified copy. The judge certifies that the court is a court of record and that the clerk's signature appearing on the certification is original. The Clerk of Court then certifies that the judge is a judge and has control over the court records. The Clerk of Court also states that the judge's signature is genuine. This might be required to record your decree in another state.
An apostille provides extra autheentication. Some foreign countries require this. In Utah, the Lieutenant Governor provides this authentication. The Apostille Request Form is available on the Lt. Governor's website.
If you have a good reason for it, you can ask the court to set aside the judgment and reopen your case. A military service member has special rights to set aside a default judgment.
See our Motion to Set Aside Judgment page for details.
You can also read more on Default Judgments.
