In an alimony case where the requesting party fails to provide supporting financial documents, a court may impute reasonable expenses based on circumstantial and testimonial evidence.

May 24, 2018

In a previous Utah Supreme Court case of Dahl v. Dahl, 2015 UT 79, the court rule in the facts of that case, Wife failed to show but providing documentary support that she had a financial need that would support an award of alimony. (She also was receiving substantial assets in the property settlement). This is a common contention in alimony trials--that a party fails to provide receipts, bank records, statement, contracts or other evidence of his or her expenses to show that they have a need for alimony. And because a court is generally constrained to limit an award of alimony to a recipient's need (their proven budget), a lack of documentation provided at trial by the recipient spouse is often used to argue and limit or reduce an alimony award. However, in this court of appeals case, Munos v. Carlos, No. 20161013-CA, Filed May 24, 2018, the court ruled that it believed the standard of the Utah Supreme Court under Dahl is that court may impute or assume reasonable expenses if there is some evidence of the expenses and the expenses are otherwise reasonable. The court of appeals explained, "...courts may impute figures where there is insufficient evidence of one of the statutory alimony factors.” Dahl. ¶ 116 (internal quotation omitted). Thus, a court can make findings related to the statutory alimony factors without supporting financial documents and can impute reasonable expenses based on circumstantial or testimonial evidence.

September 27, 2018
A child’s preference, even if age 14 or older, may be excluded as evidence if the court finds there was no change of circumstances sufficient to reopen the case.

¶35 Father contends the court erred by “refusing to consider testimony from [Child].” Before and during trial, and through various […]

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April 11, 2018
Utah's Divorce 90-Day Waiting Period Changed to 30 Days

The Utah legislature passed Senate Bill 25, which changes the waiting minimum period for divorces from 90 days to 30 […]

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March 16, 2018
For imputation of income at trial, you only need to prove that a relevant job exists, not a specific job

Bond v. Bond, March 16, 2018 Held:  Jobs Available can be General, Not Specific--need to prove only that jobs exist […]

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