Wednesday, 7 March 2018

Commercial Real Estate Lawyer

Commercial real estate transactions are often complicated and can involve many moving parts, which makes commission disputes a challenge. Even when a listing agreement is written out in detail, legal disputes can arise during or after the sale of a property. This is why it is always a good idea to have a commercial real estate lawyer in your back pocket when issues arise. The confusion around procuring cause is a common source of disputes in real estate sales, and commercial brokers can easily find themselves embroiled in contentious litigation as a result.

Commercial Real Estate Lawyer

Commercial Real Estate Matters

Procuring cause is a party that is responsible for successfully securing the sale. This concept is often at the heart of real estate disputes involving brokers and property owners.

The Utah Supreme Court has explained that to earn a commission as the procuring cause of a transaction, a broker must perform two essential tasks:

  1. The broker must initiate negotiations by doing some affirmative act to bring buyer and seller together.
  2. The broker must remain involved in the continuing negotiations between the seller and the buyer, unless the seller and buyer intentionally exclude the broker from the negotiations.

Unless the broker has failed to uphold their end of the deal, a property owner who refuses to pay commissions upon the sale of the property is usually found to be in the wrong. Even so, property owners or buyers may use the issue of procuring cause to claim that the broker is not owed any commissions.

Real Estate Commission Disputes Involving Oral Agreements

Though most real estate contacts involve written listing agreements, verbal agreements are still utilized in some circumstances, often in conjunction with a written contract.

Whether oral real estate commission agreements can be upheld in court or arbitration depends in part on the laws of each state; in Utah, these types of contracts are considered legal and binding.

It can be difficult, however, to prove the terms of an oral contract.

Having witnesses other than the two contracted parties can be helpful in demonstrating the validity of these agreements. Any informal correspondence such as emails, faxes, and letters can also prove critical in supporting a broker’s claims to unpaid commissions.

Don’t Wait to Hire a Real Estate Lawyer

Whether your contract was in writing or simply a hand shake agreement, it’s important to have qualified legal representation before entering the litigation or arbitration process.

First and foremost, you’ll want to ensure that you have the necessary legal protections in place so that you and your attorney can figure out the best way to approach your case.

For many clients, that involves initiating a broker’s lien. This is a process whereby the commercial broker can place a lien on the proceeds of the sale, and sometimes the property itself, until any owed commissions are paid. It is possible to file liens for the full value of those commissions.

Acting quickly to find representation will give you the best opportunity to recover what you’re owed under your listing agreement.

If you are involved in a commission dispute, you should contact an attorney with experience in commercial real estate litigation who will make sure that all pertinent documents and witnesses are leveraged to support your case.

Credit Suisse Fined $135M for Forex Misconduct

The Utah Department of Financial Services (DFS) fined Credit Suisse AG $135 million for unlawful conduct that disadvantaged customers.

According to the DFS’s investigation, for nearly a decade Credit Suisse foreign exchange traders secretly shared confidential customer information, coordinated trading activity, and attempted to manipulate currency prices. Through this cooperative effort, these traders sought to diminish competition between banks, allowing them to reap much higher profits at the expense of their customers.

The DFS investigation also uncovered that front-running—which is trading before the trader gets a client’s orders—was encouraged by Credit Suisse executives. From 2010 to 2013, Credit Suisse used an algorithm designed to front-run their client’s limit and stop-loss orders. During this time period, Credit Suisse executed approximately 31,000 limit orders and 41,000 stop-loss orders while employing this front-running tactic.

Internal documents show that Credit Suisse traders were fully cognizant of the potential for harm to customers, but continued to front run trades so long as they could make a profit. On one occasion, a trader wrote to the head of the electronic foreign exchange trading desk that: “we made some money by front running the orders at 25 in euro but probably will show as a loss on the client side.”

EXCESSIVE TRADING/CHURNING

“Churning” is excessive investment trading activity by a broker in a client’s account done to generate commissions for the broker.

Account churning is unethical and illegal. A victim of churning can pursue a claim for recovery of any lost money.

THE PROBLEM WITH CHURNING

Financial advisers’ duties include making suitable investments and placing the interests of their clients above their own.

However, because advisers are sometimes paid commissions when they make trades, some advisers engage in unnecessary and excessive buying and selling. They “churn” a client’s account to generate additional profits for themselves.

The transaction fees, potential tax liabilities, and poorly performing investments that commonly result from churning are not in the client’s interest.

Account churning, whether done in isolation or in combination with unsuitable investments or other unethical practices, violates Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) principles, such as the principle of “quantitative suitability,” as well as various state laws.

ELEMENTS OF A CHURNING CLAIM

An investor wishing to bring a churning claim against a financial adviser/brokerage firm must establish excessive activity and proof of control.

Proof of control means the broker/firm had effective control of the investment account. No single test defines excessive activity, but the following factors may provide evidence:

  • Turnover ratio: Turnover ratio is the total value of annual purchases made in the account divided by the account’s average monthly balance. An annualized turnover rate of 4 to 6 or higher typically indicates churning, but churning does occur at lower rates.
  • Cost-equity ratio: The cost-equity ratio (or “break even percentage”) measures how expensive the account’s trading strategy was. To calculate the cost-equity ratio, divide the total annual costs (including commissions and margin interests) by the account’s average balance. Trading that requires an account to earn annual returns of 15-20% or more indicates possible churning.
  • In-and-out trading: Buying and selling the same investment repeatedly is known as in-and-out trading, or “wash” transactions.

Clients who successfully demonstrate that their account was churned can typically recover damages for excessive commissions or expenses and any portfolio losses caused by the churning (including market gains that should have been realized had the account been properly managed).

Free Initial Consultation with a Commercial Real Estate Attorney

When you need a commercial real property lawyer in Utah, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Michael R. Anderson, JD

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
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Tuesday, 6 March 2018

Spinal Cord Slip and Fall Injuries

From West Jordan, Utah to the East Coast, spinal cord and slip and fall injuries occur with an impressive degree of regularity. I’ve seen as a slip and fall lawyer, that the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center estimates that up to 34 people suffer from a serious spinal cord injury every day. Regardless of age, spinal cord injuries are going to be serious matters, even if a lawyer needn’t be involved.

That said, when both identified and treated promptly, oftentimes, physical damages can be limited. However, due to the fact that many elderly Americans are unable to properly care for themselves and require the services of professional caregivers, when negligence abounds, spinal injuries undoubtedly worsen.

Spinal Cord Slip and Fall Injuries

In September of this year, an interesting study was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The study closely examined 1,440 patients who’d recently experienced a spinal cord injury.

Shockingly, the study revealed something very interesting—a sharp increase in the rate at which senior patients were dying in hospitals after spinal injuries. Even more concerning, due to a limited physical state, the spinal injuries of senior citizens tended to be less severe than their younger counterparts.

While researchers admit that a number of factors could play a role in such a finding, caregiving negligence can’t by overlooked as a potential culprit. Needless to say, if you or a loved one hasn’t received the appropriate care for a slip and fall or spinal cord injury, consider speaking with a personal injury lawyer in West Jordan, Utah or elsewhere, as soon as possible.

MEDICAL INSURANCE’S EFFECT ON PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS

Some of the most common damages in a personal injury case are medical bills. It is commonly accepted in Utah and everywhere else that if a person or business causes injury to someone, then the responsible party should be liable for resulting medical bills.

These medical bills, however, can make personal injury claims a little more complicated. Some think that when health insurance companies pay for medical expenses it means that the victim is already taken care of. In reality, most claims include the cost for medical expenses whether insurance is involved or not— this leads to a financial discrepancy. If the victim does get money back from the offending party then they can receive double the money needed to pay for medical expenses. If they don’t file for damages including medical bills then the liable party ends up not paying for anything.

As mentioned before, in most cases, medical expenses from auto accidents and other things are included in the damages claim. However, the insurance company is able to submit something called a lien. This basically says that if their customer receives reimbursement from the claim, then the money should go to the insurance company since they paid for the majority of the cost.

Making sense of this situation can be difficult for many people in Utah and outside the state. A personal injury lawyer can help clients determine the best course of action in claims for auto accidents or whatever they may be.

Free Initial Consultation with a Slip and Fall Lawyer

When you’ve been injured, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Michael R. Anderson, JD

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
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What is a Change of Circumstances?

A “Change of Circumstances” in Utah Child Custody Cases requires that the court shall not modify a prior decree allocating parental rights and responsibilities for the care of children unless it finds, based on facts that have arisen since the prior decree or that were unknown to the court at the time of the prior decree, that a change has occurred in the circumstances of the child, the child’s residential parent, or either of the parents subject to a shared parenting decree, and that the modification is necessary to serve the best interest of the child. In applying these standards, the court shall retain the residential parent designated by the prior decree or the prior shared parenting decree, unless a modification is in the best interest of the child and one of the following applies:
(i) The residential parent agrees to a change in the residential parent or both parents under a shared parenting decree agree to a change in the designation of residential parent.
(ii) The child, with the consent of the residential parent or of both parents under a shared parenting decree, has been integrated into the family of the person seeking to become the residential parent.
(iii) The harm likely to be caused by a change of environment is outweighed by the advantages of the change of environment to the child.

What is a Change of Circumstances

Utah law has several hurdles for a parent that wants to change custody, and the burden of proof is on the parent who wants the change.  As a custody lawyer, I can tell you, that this means you have to not only tell the court, but provide substantial evidence to the court to get what you want. The first step of these complicated requirements is generally that there must have been a change or circumstances based on facts that did not exist at the time of last custody order.  For the most part, the Utah Revised Code is silent about what is or is not a “change of circumstances”, and the answer is found in case law. Sounds simple, right?  Nope.  Case law varies among the appellate districts.  The best you can do is look at the case law, and which trends last over time.  The bottom line is that unless a court is directly violating a case precedent that has authority over that court, the court has a LOT of latitude to decide whether or not there has been a change in circumstances.

Military Parents and Change of Circumstances

One exception to this is that The court shall not find past, present, or possible future active military service in the uniformed services to constitute a change in circumstances justifying modification of a prior decree.  For more information about Utah active military members being deployed and custody, click this link to read our article about this subject.

So What is a Change of Circumstances?

What about non-military parents?  For those parents, what constitutes a change of circumstances is mostly a matter of case law.  There are a few issues that have gone to the supreme court of Utah, and those rulings apply to the whole state, but there are other issues that vary from one appellate district to another.

Moving and Change of Circumstances

There is a case where a trial court abuses its discretion when it modifies custody based solely upon evidence that the residential parent intends to leave the State of Utah with the child.  Supreme Court said it was unconscionable for a trial court to treat a parent’s desire to leave the state as a substantial change in circumstances.  However, in that case, the mother had not actually left the state, had only expressed an intention to leave.  A very different result may occur if the parent has already left.  When a parent moves, a child changes schools, loses peers, changes doctors and sometimes loses frequent access to relatives.  These are factors a court would consider.  Courts are not big fans of parents moving the child far away from the other parent.  Put simply – it’s complicated.

Free Consultation with Child Custody Lawyer

When you need help from an experienced and caring child custody lawyer, please call Ascent Law at (801) 676-5506 for your free consultation. We will help you.

Michael R. Anderson, JD

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
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Monday, 5 March 2018

SEC Proposed Inline XBRL Filing

As a lawyer in Utah, we regularly go over new developments in the law. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently voted to propose amendments intended to improve the quality and accessibility of data submitted by public companies and mutual funds using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).

SEC PROPOSES INLINE XBRL FILING OF TAGGED DATA

The proposals would require the use of Inline XBRL, which has the potential to benefit investors and other market participants while decreasing, over time, the cost of preparing information for submission to the SEC.  The recommendations are part of the SEC’s disclosure modernization initiative.

SEC Proposed Inline XBRL Filing

“While XBRL technology has made disclosures easier to access for investors, there are legitimate concerns about the burdens smaller companies face when preparing their filings,” said SEC Acting Chairman Michael Piwowar. “Today, the SEC is asking comment on a way to streamline this process to ensure usability for the public while keeping compliance costs down.”

The SEC will seek public comment on the proposed rules for 60 days.

FACT SHEET (SEC Open Meeting)

Highlights

The proposed amendments would require the use of Inline XBRL format for the submission of operating company financial statement information and mutual fund risk/return summaries.  The proposal would also eliminate the requirement for filers to post XBRL data on their websites.

Among additional potential benefits:

  • Inline XBRL allows filers to embed XBRL data directly into their filings instead of as attachments, reducing the likelihood of inconsistencies.
  • Inline XBRL would give the preparer full control over the presentation of XBRL disclosures within the HTML filing.  In addition, tools like the open source Inline XBRL Viewer on SEC.gov can be used to review the XBRL data more efficiently.
  • For mutual funds, the proposed amendments would facilitate efficiencies in the filing process by permitting the concurrent submission of XBRL data files with certain post-effective amendment filings.  The proposed amendments also would improve the timeliness of the availability of risk/return summaries in XBRL by eliminating the current 15 business day filing period accorded to all filings containing risk/return summaries.
  • Under the proposals, requirements for operating company financial statements would be phased in over a three-year period.  Requirements for mutual funds risk/return summaries would be phased in over a two-year period.

Background

In 2009, the Commission adopted rules requiring operating companies to provide financial statement information in registration statements and periodic and current reports in XBRL by submitting it to the Commission in an Interactive Data File as an exhibit to these filings and posting it on their corporate websites, if any.

In 2009, the Commission also adopted rules requiring mutual funds to provide risk/return summaries in XBRL by submitting them to the Commission in Interactive Data Files as exhibits and posting them on their websites, if any.

There is a wide range of users of XBRL data, including investors, financial analysts, economic research firms, data aggregators, academic researchers, filers, and Commission staff.  Machine-readable financial market data, including XBRL-formatted data, enhances the Commission’s rulemaking and market monitoring activities by allowing staff to efficiently analyze large quantities of information.

SEC’S OFFICE OF THE INVESTOR ADVOCATE TO HOLD EVIDENCE SUMMIT, LAUNCH INVESTOR RESEARCH INITIATIVE

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Investor Advocate today announced it will host an Evidence Summit to discuss strategies for raising retail investors’ understanding of key investment characteristics such as fees, risks, returns, and conflicts of interest.

The March 10 Evidence Summit will mark the official launch of the SEC’s new investor research initiative led by the SEC’s Office of the Investor Advocate, dubbed ‘POSITIER’, also known as Policy Oriented Stakeholder and Investor Testing for Innovative and Effective Regulation.

POSITIER seeks to inform the rulemaking process with evidence obtained from surveys and specific testing projects. Under this initiative, the SEC’s Office of the Investor Advocate has launched a specific study program to examine the topic of Retail Disclosure Effectiveness. This study program seeks to identify and test interventions that increase investor awareness of key investment features and, in turn, improve investment outcomes.

“I am excited about the launch of POSITIER,” said Investor Advocate Rick Fleming, “because it has the potential to make a significant contribution to evidence-based policymaking at the Commission. With this new tool, we can gain better insights into the potential benefits to investors from proposed rule changes, and we will be able to help identify the best options amongst competing policy choices.”

Acting Chairman Michael Piwowar and Commissioner Kara Stein will speak at the event, as well as an interdisciplinary group of leading scholars in household and behavioral finance, psychology, marketing, and law. Although the focus will be on disclosure in the context of investment funds, the insights on improving the cognitive salience of information will be relevant to other financial disclosure contexts.

MORGAN STANLEY SETTLES CHARGES RELATED TO ETF INVESTMENTS

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Morgan Stanley Smith Barney has agreed to pay an $8 million penalty and admit wrongdoing to settle charges related to single inverse ETF investments it recommended to advisory clients.

The SEC’s order finds that Morgan Stanley did not adequately implement its policies and procedures to ensure that clients understood the risks involved with purchasing inverse ETFs.  Among the order’s findings, Morgan Stanley failed to obtain from several hundred clients a signed client disclosure notice, which stated that single inverse ETFs were typically unsuitable for investors planning to hold them longer than one trading session unless used as part of a trading or hedging strategy.  Morgan Stanley solicited clients to purchase single inverse ETFs in retirement and other accounts, the securities were held long-term, and many of the clients experienced losses.

The SEC’s order further finds that Morgan Stanley failed to follow through on another key policy and procedure requiring a supervisor to conduct risk reviews to evaluate the suitability of inverse ETFs for each advisory client.  Among other compliance failures, Morgan Stanley did not monitor the single-inverse ETF positions on an ongoing basis and did not ensure that certain financial advisers completed single inverse ETF training.

“Morgan Stanley recommended securities with unique risks and failed to follow its policies and procedures to ensure they were suitable for all clients,” said Antonia Chion, Associate Director of the SEC Enforcement Division.

Free Initial Consultation with an SEC Lawyer

When you need help from an SEC Lawyer, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Michael R. Anderson, JD

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
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Loan Modification Scam

Maybe they thought they were going to get away with it; maybe their judgment was only as good as their foresight; or maybe the six individuals indicted for fraud and money laundering, among other charges, had their eyeballs replaced with dollar signs, like in cartoons. Whatever the reasoning, money was the motive, but now the five Utahns and the one Californian face up to 30 years in prison for their actions, and no attorney in Salt Lake City can save them from their own mistakes.

Loan Modification Scam

Not even the best attorney in Salt Lake City could save these scammers from themselves

It’s possible the cadre saw the housing market crash of 2008 as a business opportunity, but there is no way they didn’t understand that their actions turned opportunistic and even illegal when they devised “a scheme to market and sell home loan modification services to distressed homeowners trying to save their homes from foreclosure.” Also—to the presumed dismay of nearly every attorney in Salt Lake City—they pretended to be a law firm, too. I think it’s fair to say that all Utah Lawyers will tell you – it’s never a good idea to say you’re a law firm when you aren’t a lawyer.

Their “mortgage law offices” were searched nearly three years ago, and now the conspirators behind the CC Brown operation are feeling the full force of the blow of the federal indictment. All 40-counts of it. The U.S. Attorney’s office is less than pleased about CC Brown’s actions during the market crisis, with its claims that the group is responsible for the “deplorable act” of “taking advantage of desperate homeowners” to the tune of nearly $33 million in losses. That’s quite a bit a money for small band of white collar criminals to rack up in less than five years. But gleaning money from “more than 10,000 victims in nearly every state in the country” is no small time operation.

A savvy real estate attorney in Salt Lake City could explain how they did it, but the gist of the scam was that the group would sell home modification loans to customers with looming defaults and sit back with their heels up, watching ruthlessly while “customers lost their homes to foreclosure while still waiting for word on the loan modification from CC Brown.”

And maybe the defendants felt themselves to be so distant from their crime they rationalized it away as simple business strategy. As a white collar criminal defense attorney in Salt Lake City might know, in several psychological accounts of white collar criminal motive analyses, this can be the case: handling phone calls, faxes, emails, and money that appears only as numbers on a screen can be more easily justified as “not wrong” in the human psyche than physically harming another human being with our own hands, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office won’t let these guys off that easy.

These guys did bad things, including “raise false hopes with phony promises of legal representation, take advantage of struggling homeowners willing to do almost anything to save their homes,” and then pocket the funds that flowed from their desperation is nothing short of despicable, according to Mary Rook, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake Office in a prepared statement. So think twice before money laundering sounds simpler and more profitable than doing laundry.

Free Initial Consultation with a Lawyer

It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. Legal problems come to everyone. Whether it’s your son who gets in a car wreck, your uncle who loses his job and needs to file for bankruptcy, your sister’s brother who’s getting divorced, or a grandparent that passes away without a will -all of us have legal issues and questions that arise. So when you have a law question, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Michael R. Anderson, JD

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
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Sunday, 4 March 2018

Fatal Car Crashes in Utah Still Frequent

Car makers have decades of experience in tempting people with features they don’t really need. Today, however, with electronic dashboard options multiplying, it isn’t merely a matter of paying too much. Given the risk of distracted driving, the opinion of this car accident lawyer is that having too much technology puts everyone on the road at risk of serious or even fatal injuries.

Fatal Car Crashes in Utah Still Frequent

Dashboard Danger: Feds May Create Guidelines on In-Car Devices

This is why federal safety regulators are considering the creation of guidelines to place restrictions on the use of technological devices that are built right into the vehicle. To prevent car accidents and truck accidents, the dashboard should a place to focus on driving, not infotainment.

To be sure, distracted driving can occur with older technology as well. Fiddling with the radio or looking down momentarily to change a CD can take a driver’s eyes off the road long enough to cause an accident.

But the sheer ubiquity of devices available now has multiplied the dangers of distraction. The devices include a host of mobile devices for texting, Web-browsing, cellphone calls, and so on. There are also increasingly many new devices built right into the vehicles themselves, such as voice-activated systems for navigation controls.

Just because such devices are hands-free does not make them safe. Research has repeatedly shown that even if a driver has his or her hands free, cognitive overload can occur when there are too many technological stimuli to keep track of.

When the mind gets overwhelmed by too much data, it becomes no longer possible to focus properly on driving safely.

Ray LaHood, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, has been meeting with executives from the car industry to discuss what can be done to design cars more safety in the Internet age.

Fatal Car Crashes Frequent Despite Recent Decline

It’s true that the number of fatal car accidents has declined in recent years. But there are still far too many Utahns who lose their lives on the road due to others’ negligence.

In Utah and in nine other states, more people were killed by firearms than in motor vehicle accidents in 2009.

In 2009, the number of gun deaths in Utah was 260. This exceeded the 256 people who died in automobile accidents was 256. The statistics were released by the Violence Policy Center, which compiled them from data available from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 2009 statistics for fatal car accidents showed the continuation of a trend in recent years toward fewer deadly crashes. In Utah, the number declined from 322 in 2007 to 306 in 2008 – and down to 256 in 2009.

The trend also continued in the last two years. In 2010, the Utah Department of Transportation reported 253 accident deaths. In 2011, the number went down again, to 233.

The Utah State Patrol says that public awareness efforts by numerous agencies and advocacy groups have helped bring about the decrease in deaths.

It needs to be pointed out, however, that over 200 people losing their lives on the road in one year in a relatively small state is still a lot of deaths. There is still considerable work to do to make driving safer in Utah.

Distracted driving, for example, is a serious problem in Utah, just as it is in the rest of the country. But shiny new digital devices are only part of the problem. Defective cars, excessive speed and other factors also cause many accidents.

Free Initial Consultation with a Car Accident Lawyer

It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. Legal problems come to everyone. Whether it’s your son who gets in a car wreck, your uncle who loses his job and needs to file for bankruptcy, your sister’s brother who’s getting divorced, or a grandparent that passes away without a will -all of us have legal issues and questions that arise. So when you have a law question, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you!

Michael R. Anderson, JD

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
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More Utah divorce cases may be caused by cheating wives

While there are many reasons for couples to seek a divorce and hire a divorce lawyer, infidelity is one that often results in strong emotions and acrimonious proceedings. Traditionally, men have always been more likely to pursue extramarital affairs, but women are now beginning to gain on men when it comes to cheating. This is because women in Utah and across the country are more financially independent and less concerned about the financial consequences of divorce if they are caught cheating.

More Utah divorce cases may be caused by cheating wives

A recent survey from the National Opinion Research Center reveals that cheating by wives has increased around 40 percent during the past two decades. In 2010, 14.7 percent of wives admitted to cheating. Of the husbands surveyed, 21 percent confessed to cheating, a figure that has remained steady over the years.

There has been a rise in divorce cases caused by the wife’s infidelity. This may be indicative of a cultural change in our society that enables women to join the workforce and earn their own income. Additionally, the rise of social media use has contributed to the start of many affairs. Despite this increase, husbands are still more apt to commit adultery, with 25 percent of those who cheat claiming to be unhappily married.

Utah couples who seek a divorce typically desire as single individuals to maintain the standard of living that they enjoyed during their marriage. However, infidelity is rarely a factor when it comes to asset division and spousal support because our state has a no-fault approach to divorce. It may be in each spouse’s best interest to seek legal advice during the divorce proceedings in order to ensure a fair settlement.

Utah Grandparents’ Rights for Visitation After a Divorce

While it is not always discussed, the visitation rights that must be considered in the wake of a divorce can include more than those of the divorcing parents. In some situations, visitation rights for grandparents also become an issue – and, occasionally, litigation ensues as a result.

Grandparents are becoming increasingly involved financially in their grandchildren’s lives, as the recession led to financial difficulties for many young families. According to the AARP, one-quarter of American grandparents spend over $1,000 each year on their grandchildren. Even more surprising, 37 percent of the grandparents surveyed indicated they helped pay for the expenses associated with daily life.

Despite the increased financial involvement of American grandparents, their visitation rights after a divorce have become somewhat diminished nationwide, following a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case. The high court struck down a law from Washington state that permitted any third party, including grandparents, to ask state courts for visitation rights, even if the parents objected.

Although this ruling led many states to abolish their grandparents’ visitation rights laws, Utah grandparents still have certain rights to see their grandchildren after the parents obtain a divorce.

Rights of Utah Grandparents

Utah laws provide that grandparents can file a cause of action to obtain visitation rights when a divorce or “other proceeding involving custody and visitation issues” is pending.

Courts start with the presumption that the decision made by the parents with regard to the grandparent’s rights to visitation is in the child’s best interest. If the grandparent is able to prove certain other factors to rebut the presumption, the court may award them visitation rights, though. Some of those factors include whether the parent is “unfit or incompetent,” or the grandparent “acted as the grandchild’s custodian or caregiver, or otherwise has had a substantial relationship with the grandchild, and the loss or cessation of that relationship is likely to cause harm to the grandchild.”

Determining visitation rights after a divorce is difficult for everyone involved. Consulting with a skilled family law attorney can ensure each party’s voice is heard.

Free Consultation with Divorce Lawyer

If you have a question about divorce law or if you need to start or defend against a divorce case in Utah call Ascent Law at (801) 676-5506. We will help you.

Michael R. Anderson, JD

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
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