UtahS.B. 2572026 General SessionSenateWALLET

Domestic Relations Amendments

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

31 provisions identified: 12 benefits, 4 costs, 15 mixed.

Resident tuition access for qualifying students

A dependent student qualifies for Utah resident tuition when a legally recognized parent has made Utah their permanent home for at least 12 months before applying. Resident tuition also covers Defense Department civilians assigned to a Utah military organization and their immediate family members. Applicants must provide the civilian's current Defense Department identification card and proof of Utah assignment or permanent residence. For the civilian, assignment proof can be a commander's statement. These civilians and family members keep resident status after a move or duty-station change while continuously enrolled.

Monthly child care payments for parents

Beginning January 1, 2027, qualifying new or modified support orders include monthly child care payments from the paying parent to the receiving parent. Orders using the low-income table are excluded. For ages 0–23 months, 2–3 years, 4–5 years, and 6–12 years, the listed monthly amounts by combined adjusted monthly income are: $0–$4,752: $225/$263/$263/$204; $4,573–$6,911: $325/$313/$300/$300; $6,912–$10,140: $410/$338/$338/$305; $10,141–$14,999: $420/$345/$345/$325; and $15,000 or more: $450/$375/$375/$363. A court can change the amount based on an acceptable agreement or evidence, including setting it at zero when no child care costs will occur. Payments adjust as the child ages, end at age 13 or emancipation, and are not owed for months spent in a state-managed facility while in state custody.

More contact and makeup time for parents

Noncustodial parents get at least two brief phone contacts each week, plus virtual visits when equipment is reasonably available. These contacts add to in-person parenting time and must occur at reasonable hours and last a reasonable length. Courts decide equipment disputes based on the child's best interests, each parent's ability to pay added costs, and other relevant factors. A parent can request makeup time after a child welfare investigation caused missed visits but found no abuse, neglect, or dependency. Courts must grant the same type and length of time within two years of the order, unless prior visits were not diligently used or a party shows good cause for denial.

Parents can recover wrongly lost visits

Beginning May 6, 2026, this make-up visit rule applies only if S.B. 304 also becomes law. On a parent's motion or petition, courts must award time lost during a child welfare investigation finding no abuse, neglect, or dependency. Courts can deny that request for lack of prior diligence in exercising visits or good cause. Courts must also award time lost through the other parent's knowingly false material protective-order information, when the order was dismissed on the merits after notice and a chance to be heard. That second route requires no abuse or neglect finding against the requesting parent, and make-up time must match the type and duration lost and occur within two years.

Safer address and travel privacy for parents

Courts cannot require a parent fleeing domestic or family violence by the other parent to reveal their address to that parent. Courts must also make specific findings and orders about how the relocation law applies. A parent traveling with a child is exempt from the specified travel-information notice when a protective order or stalking injunction bars contact with the other parent.

Stronger child safety checks in custody

Parents must immediately tell the other parent about known qualifying convictions of someone living with them or accessing their child. These include specified child abuse, kidnapping, sexual, and exploitation crimes, including substantially similar offenses; the listed kidnapping and sexual crimes require a victim under 18. Knowingly giving a child access to a qualifying registrant or convicted person can support a custody-change request, but does not automatically change custody. Courts must consider whether parent-time is likely to endanger a child's health or physical or psychological safety. Supervision requires findings of likely harm or abuse, a need for supervision, and no reasonably available less restrictive option; abuse includes child abuse homicide and domestic violence in a child's presence.

Family caregiver pay needs federal approval

The law directed Utah's health department to seek federal approval before July 1, 2023, for parent or guardian caregiver payments. The care recipient must be enrolled in a qualifying home- and community-based Medicaid waiver for brain injury, intellectual or physical disability, or people age 65 or older. Qualifying parents include those with a legally recognized parent-child relationship and stepparents. Payments cover personal care that meets the department's rule defining extraordinary care. The department must implement reimbursement after federal approval; the law alone does not establish that approval has occurred.

Tighter adoption rights for unmarried fathers

An unmarried biological father has no right to adoption notice when conception resulted from conduct constituting a sexual offense, even without charges or conviction. Beginning May 6, 2026, the cohabitation route to requiring his adoption consent also requires openly presenting himself as the father during the relevant 180 days. That route applies when adoptive placement occurs more than 180 days after birth. For a child under one, the required 180-day cohabitation occurs between birth and placement. For an older child, it occurs during the year before placement.

Child support adjusts when children emancipate

When a child becomes emancipated, base support automatically adjusts for the remaining children without a new court order. This applies unless the order says otherwise, and only when the latest order or worksheets give consistent incomes and follow guidelines. Emancipation includes age 18 or expected high school graduation, whichever is later, death, marriage, military service, legal emancipation, or termination of the paying parent's parental rights. The calculation uses incomes from the latest order or worksheets. Payments collected during the transition do not require refunds unless a court orders otherwise.

Disability income counts toward child support

Courts and agencies count a parent's Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) as gross income when calculating child support. Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid are excluded. Counting SSDI can change how much support a parent pays and the child receives.

Fatherhood rules protect ties and limit presumptions

A tribunal can deny genetic testing or disregard exclusionary results for a presumed, declared, or possible father. This requires conduct that legally prevents denial of parentage, an unfair disruption of the parent-child relationship, and consideration of the child's best interests. A possible father is a man whose sexual relationship with the mother created a reasonable belief that he was the genetic father; when the rule applies, the tribunal must declare him the father. Separately, a man is not presumed to father a child omitted from a divorce decree that names other children of the same mother. The omitted child must already have been born when the decree was entered.

New family rules for receiving inheritances

When someone dies without a will, parent-child status can be established under Utah's parentage law. An adopted person generally inherits as the adopting parents' child, not the pre-existing parent's child. Adoption by a pre-existing parent's spouse does not sever the relationship with that pre-existing parent. A parent can inherit from or through a child only after openly treating the child as their own and not refusing support. For gifts or property provisions made by someone other than the parent, counting as that parent's child generally requires having lived as a minor in the regular household of the parent or specified relatives.

New visit times for young children

When parents do not agree, minimum visits for children under five depend on the child's age. For ages 12 months to under five, alternating weekends run Friday at 5:30 p.m. through Sunday at 7:30 p.m. For ages 18 months to under five, weekday visits end at 7:30 p.m., and extended periods run from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Holiday times also change. For children under nine months, the noncustodial parent can choose among the law's listed familiar settings.

Parents keep visit rights after distant moves

After a move of at least 150 miles from the other parent, children ages 5–18 have a minimum schedule unless the court orders otherwise. It assigns fall, winter, spring, and Thanksgiving breaks by odd or even year. The noncustodial parent gets the first half of summer or off-track time in odd years and the second half in even years. That parent can also choose one monthly weekend at their own expense; the child must return at least seven days before school starts. For children under five, courts can set visits based on development, attachment, distance, travel arrangements and cost, and the child's best interests.

Parents share and verify childcare costs

Support orders generally split reasonable work-related child care costs equally, including costs during extended parenting time. The usual presumption is rebutted when support and medical payments, with or without child care, exceed 50% of the paying parent's adjusted gross income. Courts can assign costs differently for employment, job training, or fairness, and estimate care costs when they assign assumed income to a caregiving parent. Unless the court says otherwise, parents must give written proof of costs and the provider when care starts and upon request, and report provider changes, monthly cost changes, or the end of care within 30 calendar days. Contact barred by a protective order or stalking injunction is exempt; missing required notices can cost a parent credit or repayment.

Parents share travel costs after moves

Unless the court orders otherwise, the relocating parent pays all child travel costs for the specified holiday visits. That parent pays half of extended summer or off-track travel costs when the noncustodial parent is current on support. A noncustodial parent found in contempt for unpaid support pays all travel costs under the schedule unless the court orders otherwise. Reimbursement is due within 30 days after receiving expense documents.

Revised visits and summer time for parents

For children ages 5–18, the law revises weekday and alternating-weekend schedules; standard minimum weekends end Sunday at 8:30 p.m. The standard minimum applies when parents do not agree on a schedule. Noncustodial parents may receive up to four summer weeks: two uninterrupted and two allowing a custodial-parent weekday visit; custodial parents receive two uninterrupted weeks. Under both the standard and optional schedules, the noncustodial parent's four weeks may be split into two nonconsecutive 14-day periods. The optional schedule requires agreement or a court order, with an increased minimum requiring agreement or demonstrated involvement, communication, ability to carry out the schedule, and child-focused findings; summer-plan notices are due May 1 or May 15, depending on parent and year, and late or missing notices affect selection.

More health employees qualify for infant-at-work

Utah's Infant at Work Pilot includes employees with a legally recognized parent-child relationship and employees caring for a foster infant. Eligible Department of Health and Human Services employees can bring an infant to work with program approval. Employees need 12 consecutive months of employment and 1,250 hours worked during the previous 12 months, excluding paid time off. The infant must be at least six weeks old and no more than six months old. The division must review the workplace and approve participation under its health and safety guidelines.

At-home parents get a limited tax credit

The law updates parent eligibility for Utah's $100 tax credit per qualifying child. Parents must provide full-time care at home, claim the child as a dependent, and have specified wages and Schedule C gross income totaling no more than $3,000. Adjusted gross income on the return, including joint filers, must not exceed $50,000, and the child must be no older than 12 months at year-end. For the adoption category, a child-placing agency must place the child in the home for legal adoption. The credit only reduces tax owed; unused amounts are not refunded or carried to another year.

Abuse mitigation covers more family relationships

Battered-person mitigation includes a minor's relationship with a parent, stepparent, or someone living with the parent as a stepparent. It applies to an otherwise unjustified offense against a cohabitant who showed a pattern of abuse against the person or another cohabitant. The person must reasonably believe the offense was necessary to end that pattern. Every part of the mitigation claim must be proved by clear and convincing evidence.

Family courts coordinate related child cases

Utah district courts must assign cases involving the same child or family to one judge when possible. Juvenile courts can transfer a child protective-order petition when both sides are the child's parent or stepparent. Transfer requires an ex parte protective order and a qualifying custody or parent-time case or order in district court. The juvenile court must find that district court better serves the child's best interests.

Parental killing triggers child abuse protections

Utah's Juvenile Code treats a parent intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing the other parent's death as abuse. It also covers a parent identified by law enforcement as the primary suspect, prosecuted, or convicted for causing that death. The code defines a parent through the legal parent-child relationship and continues to include noncustodial parents. A separate statutory exception to that parent definition remains.

Registry relief reaches more eligible parents

Utah's corrections department must automatically remove registrants whose only registry offenses appear on the law's eligible list. Qualifying child kidnapping is included when the offender was the victim's parent, not only a natural parent. The parent exception to the offense of asking a child under 14 to accompany a sex offender also covers the offender's child, not only a natural child. That exception remains unavailable when a court order or probation or parole condition bars contact.

Family ties limit cohabitant protection orders

The protective-order chapter's cohabitant definition excludes a parent or stepparent's relationship with a minor child. The wording uses 'parent' instead of 'natural or adoptive parent.' It also excludes relationships among siblings, stepsiblings, and foster siblings under 18. These exclusions govern access under this chapter, not every type of protective order.

Remote marriages require clear license warnings

A Utah marriage license is not considered used in Utah when the couple and officiant are not physically together. An exception requires the issuing county to post a warning and the officiant to repeat it word for word immediately before marriage. The warning must appear prominently near the application, in bold type at least as large as the application instructions. It must be in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Tagalog, French, and Mandarin Chinese.

Broader parent rules limit registry removal

Utah's offender registry laws define a parent through the legal parent-child relationship and include noncustodial parents. For specified child-victim kidnapping, trafficking, smuggling, and related offenses, registration and duration rules use 'parent' rather than 'natural parent.' A registrant whose qualifying offense was attempting, soliciting, or conspiring to commit aggravated kidnapping cannot use the 10-year removal petition route when the victim was their child. That restriction now applies to parents generally, not only natural parents.

Parents get clearer visit change rules

Existing court-ordered visits do not change automatically when the law changes; changes require both parents' signed written consent or a new court order. For orders entered on or after May 6, 2026, turning five provides grounds to request custody or visit changes, unless the order already addresses that age. It counts as a substantial and material change for custody and a change in circumstances for parent-time. Either parent can name a stepparent, grandparent, or responsible adult for pickup if the other parent knows the adult's identity. The parent naming the adult must be with the child by 7 p.m.

Parents get new Juneteenth visit times

Beginning January 1, 2027, revised Juneteenth visits apply only if H.B. 309 also becomes law. When Juneteenth falls the day before Father's Day, visits run Friday at 5:30 p.m. to Saturday at 5:30 p.m. When it falls on Father's Day or the following day, visits run Sunday to Tuesday. Otherwise, visits begin at 5:30 p.m. the day before Juneteenth and end the day after. The Sunday-to-Tuesday and ordinary periods end at 8:30 p.m. under the standard and optional ages 5–18 schedules, or 7:30 p.m. under the under-five schedule.

Parents get revised holiday visit schedules

The statutory holiday schedules change some assignments between odd and even years, including under the optional schedule for ages 5–18. Mother's Day and Father's Day visits begin at 5:30 p.m. the day before and end at 8:30 p.m. on the holiday. Columbus Day and Veterans Day are removed from the listed holidays.

Parent status governs children's organ donation

Utah's anatomical-gift law recognizes a minor's parent through the state's legal parent-child relationship definition. A person whose parental rights have been terminated does not qualify as a parent under these rules. This determines who has parent status for organ and other anatomical-gift decisions.

Broader parent definitions shape child offenses

Utah's parental-kidnapping law defines a parent through the legal parent-child relationship rather than the former biological-or-adoptive wording. The offense covers taking or keeping a child under 18 to interfere with custody when a specified custody or visit restriction applies. Child sexual-abuse law also recognizes a parent, rather than only a natural parent, as someone in a position of special trust.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Todd Weiler
Republican • Senate

Cosponsors

Stephanie Gricius
Republican • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 159 • No: 1

House vote • 3/6/2026

House/ substituted

Yes: 0 • No: 0

Senate vote • 3/6/2026

Senate/ concurs with House amendment

Yes: 22 • No: 0

House vote • 3/6/2026

House/ passed 3rd reading

Yes: 61 • No: 1

House vote • 3/3/2026

House Comm - Substitute Recommendation

Yes: 8 • No: 0

House vote • 3/3/2026

House Comm - Favorable Recommendation