Divorce

Introduction

Divorce is the proceeding that ends a marriage and all legal relationships between the people who are married, except those specified in the divorce decree. There are many issues that may need to be resolved in the divorce, including:

  • child custody, child support, parent-time;
  • alimony (sometimes called spousal support or maintenance); and
  • division of debt, property, and pension and retirement benefits.

This and other pages discuss these issues in more detail.

 

Before filing for divorce

Residency requirements

To get divorced in Utah you or your spouse must reside in a single county in Utah for at least three months immediately before filing the divorce petition. Utah Code Section 30-3-1. If custody of a minor child is an issue, usually the child must reside with at least one of the parents in Utah for at least six months, but there are exceptions.

Grounds for divorce

The grounds for divorce, including irreconcilable differences, are listed in Utah Code Section 30-3-1(3).

Costs of a divorce

Costs and fees for a divorce can vary greatly, but they can include:

  • Fee to file the petition
  • Online Court Assistance Program (OCAP) fees
  • Fee for the Office of Vital Records and Statistics
  • Fees to serve the petition and summons
  • Attorney fees
  • Copying costs
  • Fees for the Divorce Education class and the Divorce Orientation class if there are minor children.

If you cannot afford the fees, you can ask the judge to waive them. To have fees waived, you must prove to the court that you are unable to pay them. You must file a detailed description of your income, property, and debts. For more information, see our page on Fee Waiver.

Divorce records are private records

Most court records are public. This means that anyone can view and copy the documents filed with the court. However, starting April 1, 2012, divorce records are not public. They can be viewed and copied by the parties, their lawyers and a few others, but not by the public. The orders and decrees in the case remain public. So, for example if a motion to waive the 30-day waiting period is granted, the order is a public document. When filing a private document, the filer must identify the document as private. For more information, see our page on Public and Non-public Records.

Certain information such as social security numbers, and dates of birth and identifying information about minors are not public, and you must take special care not to include private information in a public document, particularly in a court order.

 

The divorce process

The parties

The spouse starting the divorce case is the petitioner. The other spouse is the respondent.

Domestic Relations Injunction

When a divorce case is filed, the court will automatically issue an order called a Domestic Relations Injunction. The injunction is a court order requiring parties not to harass one another, change insurance or beneficiary coverage, transfer property or make non-routine travel with the parties' minor children while the case is pending. There are additional prohibitions in the injunction. Be sure to read it carefully.

The injunction is effective for the petitioner when the case is filed. The injunction is effective for the respondent when the petitioner gets a copy to them. See the Domestic Relations Injunction web page for more information.

Petitioner completes the documents

The petitioner may use the Online Court Assistance Program (OCAP) to prepare the petition and other documents to file for divorce. Follow the OCAP instructions. If either party has a lawyer, the lawyer will prepare the documents required of that party.

Some websites offer forms that might not be legally sufficient in the Utah courts and might be rejected by the judge. And you may have to pay a fee for the forms. Before using forms from another website, check this website to see whether a low-cost or free, court-approved form is available. If not, you might want to consider hiring a Utah lawyer to prepare documents for you rather than paying for a form that might be rejected.

Petitioner files the documents

The petitioner must file for divorce with the district court in the county in which at least one of the parties has resided for at least three months immediately before filing the divorce petition. For more information about how to file documents, see our page on Filing Procedures.

Petitioner serves the documents

The petitioner must serve the respondent with the petition for divorce, summons and other documents no later than 120 days after the petition is filed. The petitioner must file a Proof of Service form once service has been completed. For more information about service, see our page on Serving Papers.

Respondent files an answer

The respondent has 21 days (if they were served in Utah) or 30 days (if they were served outside of Utah) to respond to or "answer" the divorce petition. For more information, see our page on Answering a Complaint or Petition.

If an answer is filed, both parties must provide initial disclosures to each other, including a Financial Declaration. For more information and forms, see the Initial Disclosures web page and the Financial Declarations web page.

Parties attend a Case Management Conference

Once the respondent files an answer, the court will schedule a case management conference. This is a hearing to schedule important dates in your case. This can include dates for:

There could be other things to schedule – it depends on how complicated your case is.
Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 100A

Stipulation

The respondent may also stipulate—or agree—in writing to the petition and the divorce decree. If the parties can agree to the terms of the decree, they can use the OCAP Divorce Interview to prepare the documents. OCAP can create a stipulation at the start of the case, or at any point in the case if the parties come to an agreement. Follow the directions in the OCAP interview.

If Respondent does not file an answer

If the respondent does not file an answer within the time specified in the Summons, the petitioner may ask for a default judgment. This means the petitioner gets what they have asked for, and the respondent won't have a chance to tell their side of the story. For more information and forms, see our page on Default Judgments. The default judgment forms are also available through the OCAP divorce program.

If the respondent has signed a Stipulation or an Acceptance of Service, Appearance, Consent and Waiver form, the petitioner can ask for a judgment in accordance with what was asked for in the petition. The judgment form is available through the OCAP divorce program.

Divorce waiting period

Utah law requires that there be 30 days between the date the petition is filed and the date the decree is signed. A party can ask the court to waive the waiting period for extraordinary circumstances. For more information and forms to ask that the waiting period be waived, see our Motion to Waive Divorce Waiting Period page.

Mandatory divorce education classes (if there are minor children)

If the parties have minor children together, they must attend a divorce orientation class and a divorce education class before the divorce will be granted. For more information about course locations and schedules and for information and forms for waiving the requirement, see our page on Mandatory Education in Divorce and Temporary Separation.

Free Divorce Education Class for Children

If you have children ages 6-17 you can enroll them in a free class to help them understand what is happening with the divorce and cope with the changes. The class is taught by mental health professionals. See our page on the Divorce Education for Children Online for registration information.

Mandatory mediation (if there are contested issues)

If the respondent files an answer, the parties usually must attend at least one mediation session to try to resolve the issues before the case can move forward.

Either party may ask the court to excuse the mediation requirement. See our Motion to Excuse Mediation page for more information. For more information about mandatory mediation, see our page on Divorce Mediation.

If the respondent files an answer and the parties are able to agree to the terms of the divorce, with or without mediation, the parties can use the OCAP Divorce Stipulation interview to prepare the appropriate documents.

Temporary orders

The parties may need to ask for a temporary order governing the parties while the divorce case is moving forward. A temporary order can include provisions for child support and custody, parent time, use of the marital home, payment of debts, and other matters. For more information and forms, see our page on How to get a Temporary Order.

Name restoration

Divorcing spouses may restore the legal name they used before the marriage by including a statement in the petition and decree indicating that their name is being changed. The party should include the complete legal name that is being restored and that will be used again after the divorce.

Other issues

There are other issues that may need to be resolved in the divorce. For more information, please see our pages on:

 

Going to trial

The following procedures apply only if the parties are not able to reach an agreement about what the divorce decree should say.

Child custody evaluation

The parties may request a custody evaluation prepared by a professional evaluator. The judge can order a custody evaluation even without a motion from a party. A custody evaluation may be expensive and the cost is often split between the parties. For more information, see Rule 4-903 and our pages on Custody Evaluation and Child Custody and Parent Time.

Trial

See the Getting Ready for Trial web page for information about going to trial.

 

 Divorce decree

The parties are not divorced until the judge signs the decree.

 

 After the divorce

Appeals

A party who disagrees with the judge's decisions and thinks the judge has made a legal mistake may file an appeal, but must do so within 30 days after final entry of the divorce decree. For more information, see our page on Appeals.

Setting aside a judgment

A judgment, including a default judgment, can be set aside if there are good enough reasons for doing so. If a judgment is set aside, the case is reopened for further litigation. A military service member has special rights to set aside a default judgment.

To help prepare a motion to set aside a default or other judgment, see Motion to Set Aside Judgment page. For more information about default judgments, see our page on Default Judgments.

Correcting a clerical error in the decree

If there is a clerical mistake in the decree, either party may ask the court to enter a corrected decree. A clerical mistake may be, for example, if the monthly child support payment amount is supposed to be $300 but is mistakenly listed as $30. See the Motion to Correct Clerical Mistake web page for information about the process, and forms.

Modifying a divorce decree

If there has been a substantial change in circumstances since the divorce decree was issued, either party can ask the court to modify the decree. For more information, see our pages on:

Enforcing a divorce decree

A party may ask the court to enforce the divorce decree if the other party is not obeying it. And, a party may ask the court to enforce temporary orders if the other party is not obeying the temporary orders while a divorce is pending. For more information, see our page on Motion to Enforce Order.

 

 Getting a copy of your divorce decree

To get a copy of your divorce decree, contact the court that handled the divorce case. Use the Court Directory to find contact information.

The court provides copies of its records for a fee. There are situations where you may need the court to provide a certified or exemplified copy of a record. There are additional fees for these special copies.

Certified Copy

A certified copy of a court record is dated, signed, and stamped by the Clerk of Court certifying that the copy is a true copy of the original court record.

Exemplified Copy

An exemplified court record is an authenticated copy of a certified copy. To authenticate a 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. An exemplified record may be required in order to record a judgment or decree in another state.

Apostille

Some foreign countries will require that a document be authenticated by Apostille. In Utah, the Lieutenant Governor is responsible for providing this kind of authentication by affixing the seal of the State of Utah to the document. The Apostille Request Form is available on the Lt. Governor's website.

 

Judicial recognition of a relationship as a marriage

If you are not married, you may be able to obtain a divorce decree to settle child custody, child support, parent time, alimony, and property and debt division, if you first obtain a court order recognizing the relationship as a marriage (what is often referred to as common law marriage). For more information, see our page on Judicial Recognition of a Relationship as a Marriage.

 

Temporary separation

Temporary separation is an optional step spouses may take before filing for divorce, especially if they are not sure they want to divorce, but they need court orders to establish temporary provisions concerning alimony, property and debt management and division, health care insurance, housing, child support, child custody and parent time. For more information, see our page on Temporary Separation.

 

Separate maintenance

Separate maintenance allows married couples to legally separate their affairs without obtaining a divorce under limited circumstances. A separate maintenance order governs child custody, child support, parent time, alimony, and property and debt division, but the parties remain married. For more information, see our page on Separate Maintenance.

 

Annulment

Annulment makes a marriage null and void—as though it never existed. For more information, see our page on Annulment.

 

Forms

Forms for the petitioner

Forms for the respondent

  • Use Online Court Assistance Program (OCAP) to prepare an Answer to a divorce case and optional Counterclaim, or to prepare a Stipulation.
  • To prepare and Answer and optional Counterclaim, use the generic forms on the Answering a Complaint or Petition web page.
  • 1204XXTo be used by the respondent to tell the court that they are not on active duty military service.

Requests

Going to trial

Final documents

  • 1051FA
  • 1052FAIf the parties have children together under 18, or if a party is asking for alimony.
  • 1004FATo be used by either party to tell the court what they know about how much money the other party earns.
  • 1113FA
    (Used to object to the proposed order or Judgment)

Other forms

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