How to Divorce – Parent-Time
Typically in a divorce with
children, parent-time is always a critical issue. In Utah, child support and
custody are determined based on the number of overnights that a parent has with
a child. Most parent-time issues deal
with the difference between sole physical custody and joint physical custody. In
Utah sole physical is defined as one party being the primary custodial parent
with the other party having parent-time.
The Utah legislature has set the magic number at 110 overnights using the
rotating weekends and holiday schedule set forth in http://le.utah.gov/code/TITLE30/htm/30_03_003500.htm. For children over the age of 5, the rotating “statutory
minimum” schedule is every other weekend from 6:00 p.m. on Friday to 7:00 p.m.
on Sunday, and one 3 hour visit during the week usually from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30
p.m. with additional overnights for holidays, winter, spring, and summer
vacations.
Joint physical custody is
technically anything over the statutory minimum of 110 overnights, but
typically if it is just a couple of nights over, the label does not quite
apply. In a joint physical custody arrangement, neither
party is designated as the primary physical custodian (unless they agree to
this) and a joint parenting relationship exists between the parties. A joint physical custody arrangement also has
other legal ramifications such as hindering a parent’s ability to move further
than 150 miles from the other parent as well as its affect on child support.
Without trying to sound too
cynical, child support often motivates divorce litigants to push for joint physical
custody. A few numbers may be helpful to
understand why this may happen. Assuming
that the Petitioner has sole physical custody with 2 minor children and makes
$2,000 per month and the Respondent makes $4,000 per month. The Respondent’s child support obligation
would be $864 per month. Same facts only
now the parenting arrangement is 50/50, which results in Respondent’s child
support obligation being $231 per month.
Giving Respondent an extra 30 overnights reduces the child support
obligation to $686 per month. With these
numbers, it is easy to see why parent’s fight for a joint custody situation.