(801) 254-9450 Having to share your children’s time is rarely simple when you are divorced or you never married your co-parent. While you have rights, the courts have a responsibility to award parenting time based on what is best for your children. However, what a court decides may conflict with your personal preferences.
A Heber City visitation lawyer could help you with your parenting time disputes. At Carr | Woodall, our family law attorneys could fiercely advocate on your behalf, helping you secure the best possible outcome in your case.
When dealing with visitation disputes, state courts now refer to it as parenting time rather than visitation, even though the law has hardly changed. This new language reflects the law’s recognition that both parents play active roles in a child’s upbringing, and one parent should not be treated as a visitor.
Parenting time is the legally scheduled period when you are entitled to be with your child. These schedules are either agreed upon by both parents or ordered by a court and designed to serve your children’s best interests while ensuring ongoing and meaningful parent-child relationships. Our lawyers in Heber City could help you pursue a fair parenting time schedule.
The best interest of the child principle guides Utah courts when resolving parenting time disputes. Under state law, the court evaluates every proposed visitation schedule by determining what will benefit the child’s development and welfare most. A judge will examine how contact with each parent serves the child’s stability and growth, as well as other considerations, including:
A parent‑time plan that ignores the child’s needs may be altered or denied under the best‑interest standard. Meaningful and consistent access to both parents is presumed unless evidence shows it would harm your child. The court determines each parent’s willingness to cooperate and shields the child from parental conflict. We could ensure your parent‑time plan, created with help from our Heber City attorney, reflects what is best for your child, not just what you or your co-parent would prefer.
Any time the court establishes a parenting plan, it is considered a final order. While the order remains in place indefinitely, you may petition the court to alter it. However, a judge will not modify a parenting plan without a good reason. You and your Heber City parenting time lawyer must show the court that your circumstances have materially changed and that a modification to the schedule is necessary.
Even if you can demonstrate that circumstances have changed, you must also establish that modifying the current plan is in your child’s best interests. The courts prefer to provide children with stability, making it difficult to convince them to modify arrangements.
If you are dealing with a custody dispute or wish to alter the terms of your parenting plan, you need the support of experienced legal counsel. A Heber City visitation lawyer from Carr | Woodall could help you secure the parenting time you deserve. Contact our offices today for a confidential consultation.