What does Sole Custody Look Like in Utah? There’s more to sole custody than the “sole”. The term “sole custody” can be confusing. A lot of people think it means that the person with sole custody – the custodial parent – gets the children 100% of the time and the other parent gets to see the children only at the…
The spousal privilege can be used to protect a marriage from an overbearing prosecutor. Domestic violence is one of the more common criminal charges brought in the State of Utah and one of the primary defense against such charges is the spousal privilege. Domestic violence is “any criminal offense involving violence or physical harm or threat of violence or physical…
Marriage and Divorce Statistics Go Hand in Hand How does Utah compare in divorce statistics? Where there’s marriage, there’s divorce. Let’s look at some marriage statistics in the U.S. and how Utah compares. Nevada showed the largest number of weddings nationwide with 28.6 marriages per thousand people; Idaho has 7.8 weddings for every 1000 people and comes it at number 10…
A Registry for Non-Violent Fraud-Related White Collar Crimes Some white collar convicted criminals must register with the State in Utah. The White Collar Crime Offender Registry of Utah was established in 2015 to expose individuals convicted of white collar crimes and make their information public. It was signed into law by the Governor on March 24, 2015. Persons convicted before…
Getting Bail In Utah What it takes to get bail in Utah In Utah, the Uniform Bail Schedule Committee was formed to help judges responsible for determining a person’s bail. It encourages them to consider mitigating as well as aggravating circumstances when determining bail. Any serious injuries involving people or property, history of criminal conduct, hate crime as well as…
The Strictest DUI Law in the Country with a .05 Limit As little as two drinks can put you over the DUI limit in Utah now. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people across the United States are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, but Utah has set a new legal limit of .05, making it even more…
Utah Counties and Judicial Districts Venue for a Utah Criminal Case is Proper in the County Where the Crime was Committed. How do prosecutors in Utah decide where to file a criminal case, that is, how do they decide what is the proper venue for a case? Before a prosecutor can file a case he must determine what is the…
Scott v. Scott, Cohabitation, and Alimony Cohabitation has to be happening at the time a motion to terminate alimony is filed; not in the past. In a recent alimony case, Scott v. Scott, the Supreme Court of Utah decided whether a former wife’s alimony payments were to be terminated, under Utah Code Ann § 30-3-5(10), because of his ex-wife’s cohabitation…
While assault sounds like a simple charge it is in fact very complicated and can include a lot of different things. Even when people use the phrase simple assault that still could mean two different possible actions. The baseline for this crime is an attempt to do...
Polygraph Results Are the Subject of Expert Testimony Can polygraph tests be admitted in criminal cases in Utah? Generally speaking, polygraph results are not admissible in Utah courts because they do not satisfy Utah Rules of Evidence 702. That is because over time, they have been unable to meet the basic threshold of being inherently reliable in the scientific community.…
