Judicial Decision-making

the district court judge ultimately has the responsibility and authority to make decisions on how to resolve the legal disputes in divorce cases there are no juries in utah divorce cases it is important to understand how judges make such decisions each divorce case involves multiples legal issues, and the judge’s job is to apply the proper utah law to resolve those issues based on the unique facts and circumstances of each case this process consists of three steps findings of fact first, the judge must decide the relevant facts of each case (e g when the parties were married, each party’s earned income, what property the parties’ own, etc ) which facts are relevant depends on the specific legal issues in dispute for example, when determining which party should be responsible to pay a certain debt after the divorce, the relevant facts are who incurred the debt, when was the debt incurred, and what was the purpose of the debt the judge must state in writing each relevant fact based on the judge’s findings or investigation determining facts is easy when they are obvious or undisputed the task becomes harder when the parties dispute the facts for example, in a divorce with minor children, the judge must make child support orders calculated on each parent’s income or ability to earn income determining such income is fairly easy where a parent is optimally employed earning basic w2 salary wages determining a parent’s ability to earn income in the future is more difficult where a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed unless the parties agree on the facts, the judge’s findings of fact must be properly based on the evidence presented evidence is the information that is presented to the judge to answer questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how evidence comes in two forms first, evidence is presented through the testimony of persons or witnesses such testimony is typically given orally at a court hearing where the witness makes statements and answers questions second, evidence is presented in the form of documents or other physical means, such as bank statements, audio recordings, pictures, text messages, medical records, etc for example, if a divorcing spouse needed to provide evidence of the amount of the other’s spouse’s income, he might have the other’s spouse’s supervisor provide testimony he might also present copies of the other spouse’s tax returns, paystubs, and bank statements where the parties present conflicting evidence, the judge must determine which evidence is more likely to be accurate and true for example, if two separate witnesses testify to differing versions of an event, the judge must determine which witness to believe based on the witnesses’ credibility, the plausibility of their explanations, etc conclusions of law second, the judge must conclude how the law applies to the facts of the case the judge must utilize the proper divorce laws based on the applicable statutes, case law, and court rules the judge must then determine how those laws apply to the facts that the judge previously found for example, let’s say that the judge is trying to determine the proper amount of child support in a divorce case the applicable law requires the judge to determine each parents’ ability to earn income to make that determination, the judge must look at each parent’s current actual income as well as his or her prior income and potential to earn based on experience, education, and other related factors the judge used the findings of fact to determine the answers to each of these questions the judge then calculates the proper amount of child support based on those facts in many situations, utah divorce laws allow the judge wide discretion to determine how the laws apply to the facts of each case based on what the judge determines is fair or equitable in the best interests of the minor children as long as the judge is applying to correct laws (e g the proper statutes, case law, and court rules) and clearly stating how those laws apply to the facts of the case, the judge’s conclusions of law will usually be deemed correct and upheld orders third, the judge must make specific orders to implement the conclusions of law reached for example, if the judge determines that parent a should have custody of the minor children, then the judge must make specific orders about where the children will live, when parent b will have visitation with the children, which parent will make decisions regarding the children, etc as another example, if the judge determines that both spouses are equally entitled to equity in the marital home, the judge must make specific orders about how the home should be sold or the mortgage refinanced, etc again, utah divorce laws allow the judge wide discretion to make orders and to set terms to carry resolve the legal issues in the case