Joint custody means that both parents share the legal rights and responsibilities for their child. This can happen in one or more ways.

• Joint legal custody: Both parents have the right to make major decisions about their child, like choosing schools or medical care.¹ This can happen even if the child mostly lives with one parent.² Sometimes, the parents may have to come to an agreement over each decision. Other times, the judge might give one parent the final say on certain decisions.³ For example, the judge might give one parent the right to decide where the child will go to school. To learn more about when a judge will give joint legal custody, go to Will a judge always give joint legal custody?
   
• Joint physical custody: The child lives with both parents at different times. It is considered joint physical custody if the child lives at each parent’s home for more than 30% of the time. That means the child stays at each parent’s home for 111 nights a year or more. Or the judge might order that the child spends equal or nearly equal time with each parent.⁵ The judge can even choose one parent’s home to be the child’s primary residence and one parent to be the primary caretaker.⁶ Both parents help cover the child’s expenses while the child is in their care, in addition to paying child support.⁴
   
• Joint legal and joint physical custody: Both parents make major decisions about the child and the child lives with each parent for more than 30% of the time.
   
• Joint legal and sole physical custody: Both parents make major decisions about the child, but the child lives with one parent for 70% of the time or more. This means the child stays at the home of the parent with physical custody for 255 nights a year or more.  

To decide whether or not to give any form of joint custody, the judge will consider the factors listed in How does a judge decide whether to give joint custody? in addition to the factors listed in How does a judge decide about custody and parent-time?

¹ UT ST § 81-9-101(4)
² UT ST § 81-9-205(3)(a), (3)(b)
³ UT ST § 81-9-205(3)(c)(i)
⁴ UT ST § 81-9-101(5)
⁵ UT ST § 81-9-205(4)(a)
⁶ UT ST § 81-9-205(4)(c)

“Supervised parent-time” means that the noncustodial parent can spend time with the child, but s/he must be accompanied by someone the judge has approved to be there.¹

If you’re worried about the abuser being alone with your child, you might be thinking about asking the judge to order supervised parent-time. If you are already in court because the abuser filed a case, you may not have much to lose by asking for supervised parent-time as long as you can give the judge a good reason for it, but this may depend on your situation.

However, if there isn’t a case yet, it’s a good idea to get legal advice first before starting a case to ask for supervised parent-time. Talking to a custody lawyer can help you understand what you need to prove for the abuser to get supervised parent-time and how long it might last, based on the facts of your case.

Usually, supervised parent-time is only temporary, but this may be different on where you live and who your judge is. The judge might order a professional, a relative, or someone else the people know to watch a certain number of visits. If there are no obvious problems, the parent-time might become unsupervised. At the end of a case, the other parent might end up with more frequent and longer visits than s/he had before you went to court or even some form of custody.

If your child is in immediate danger from the abuser, you may need to start a case to ask for custody and supervised parent-time to protect your child. To find out what is best for you to do, you can look for legal advice using our Utah Finding a Lawyer page.

¹ UT ST § 81-9-101(12)

In most cases, a judge cannot give custody or parent-time to a parent who was convicted of a sexual offense that led to the child’s conception. However, there are two exceptions:

1. if you, as the child’s parent or legal guardian, agree to custody or parent-time and the judge decides it’s in the child’s best interest to allow it; or
2. if, after the conviction, you lived with the person and created a home together for your child.¹

Even if the judge denies parent-time or custody, this does not end (terminate) the person’s parental rights. S/he is still legally responsible for supporting the child financially.²

¹ UT ST § 81-9-204(12)
² UT ST § 81-9-204(13)

Before you start a custody case, you may consider making an out-of-court agreement with the other parent. People often must be flexible about custody and parent-time to benefit their child. People who fight for sole custody may be in court for months or even years. And they may still end up with some form of joint custody after a settlement or trial.

However, sometimes, people must fight for sole custody because they can’t agree with the other parent. You may need to file for custody if the other parent is keeping the child from you or you fear for the child’s well-being or safety. If the other parent committed domestic violence against you, s/he may try to keep power and control over you through the child. When there has been domestic violence, joint custody usually isn’t a good option due to the power difference in the relationship between the people.

To read more about some issues you may want to think about if you are starting a case against an abuser, go to the Safety Issues section of our Court System Basics page. You can also watch our Custody, Visitation, and Child Support videos, where we explain legal concepts and the court process. The videos discuss the different types of custody and visitation, how judges decide, child support, and moving out of state with your child. 

If you decide to file for custody in court, the process usually looks something like this:

1. File for custody

The legal paperwork that starts a custody case is called a petition. You may file your custody petition in family court or another court that handles custody cases. You will usually file in the county where the child lives. Depending on what’s going on with the child and the other parent, you may be able to ask for an emergency or temporary order when you file your petition.

The exact petition you file may depend on whether or not you are married.

• If you are married and getting divorced from your child’s other parent, you can usually file for custody in the divorce case.
• If you are married but not filing for divorce, or if you aren’t married to your child’s other parent, you can file a separate custody petition. However, if you aren’t married and the father hasn’t been legally recognized by signing an affidavit of paternity or through a child support or paternity case- you usually need to establish paternity first. To do this, you can file a petition to establish paternity in court.

The custody petition forms will be available at your local courthouse. Many forms are also available online. Some courts may have a court assistance officer or other staff to help you complete the forms you need to file. However, court staff can’t advise or represent you. The specific steps for filing will depend on your exact case and the procedures in your county. It’s a good idea to get help from a Utah lawyer to make sure you have all the forms and fill them out correctly. You can use our Utah Courthouse Locations, Download Court Forms, and Finding a Lawyer pages to find your county’s court, the forms, and local lawyers.

When you file your custody petition, the clerk will tell you when to return to court. After you file, the papers must be served to the other parent.

2. Prepare for the custody process

Custody cases are complicated, so you may want to get a lawyer. If you can hire a lawyer, you can use this list of questions as a guide when deciding who to hire. If you are representing yourself, you can learn about the court process and how to present evidence in our Preparing for Court – By Yourself section.

You can prepare for your case by gathering evidence that helps explain why you should have custody. Your evidence should relate to the “best interest” factors that a judge in your state looks at to figure out what’s best for your child. To see the factors in Utah, go to How does a judge decide about custody and parent-time? The judge may issue temporary custody and parent-time orders while the case is going on.

Keep in mind that custody court cases often take a long time. Going through this process can be emotionally and financially draining. Do what you can to take care of yourself. If you have experienced domestic violence, you may want to contact a local domestic violence organization. An advocate there may be able to support you and help you plan for your safety while in court.

3. Prepare for trial

There will usually be one or more hearings, including a trial, if you and the other parent cannot reach an agreement by yourselves, with the help of your lawyers, or through mediation. At the trial, you or your attorney can present evidence and cross-examine the other parent. The other parent can do the same. After the trial, the judge will decide what s/he thinks is best for your child and issue a final custody and parent-time order.

If you are a victim or survivor of domestic violence, you can ask the judge to include protections in your temporary and final custody and parent-time orders. For example, you can ask the judge to order the following:

• All communication between the parents must be in writing.
• The parents can only communicate with each other about the child.
• Another person, like a friend or relative who gets along with both parents, should be there when the parents exchange the child or should do the drop-off and pick-up.

4. Options if you lose the custody case

If you disagree with the judge’s order, there are a couple of legal actions that you might be able to take right away, such as filing a motion for reconsideration or an appeal.

1. A motion for reconsideration asks the judge to decide differently based on the law or new evidence.
2. An appeal moves the case to a higher court and asks that court to review the lower court’s decision due to a judge’s error.

You might also be able to ask the judge to change your order in the future, by filing a motion or petition to change (modify) the order. However, usually, this can only be done if there is a “substantial change of circumstances.” Here are a few examples of events that might be considered substantial changes in circumstances:

• The other parent gets sent to jail or charged with child abuse or neglect.
• You move or the other parent moves to another state.
• Your child’s needs change in a big way.

In Utah, there is what’s called a “rebuttable presumption” in favor of joint legal custody. This means that a judge usually will assume that joint legal custody is in your child’s best interest. However, you can try to present evidence in court to change the judge’s mind.¹

There are some situations when a judge will assume that joint legal custody is not in your child’s best interests, including if:

• there is evidence of domestic violence, neglect, or physical, sexual, or emotional abuse involving your child, you, or others in your home;
• either you, the other parent, or your child has special physical or mental needs that make joint legal custody unreasonable;
• you and the other parent live far away from each other and can’t practically make joint decisions; or
• there is another reason the judge believes joint custody is not in your child’s best interest.¹

¹ UT ST § 81-9-205(2)

The Utah State Courts website provides:

• information on custody, parent time, relocation of a parent, and much more;
• factors that a custody evaluator will consider in Utah;
• information on the best interest factors that a judge will consider in custody cases; and
• links to court forms related to parentage and custody.

Utah Legal Services has information about custody and parentage, such as what types of custody there are in Utah, grandparent visitation rights, and more.