Family Law Section

Commissioner David Dillon

1. What Judicial Districts do you cover?

Second Judicial District, Farmington Department. On rotation I cover the Morgan Department as well.

2. Do you have an office in each District? What is the address and room number?

Courtroom 1 in Farmington. In Morgan, there is only one courtroom shared by the District and Juvenile Court..

3. What days and times are you available in each District?

Monday through Friday during business hours.

4. What is the name of your scheduling clerk? How can s/he be reached?

Law and Motion and Pretrial matters are scheduled through the main clerk’s office (447-3800).

5. What is the name of your in-court clerk? How can s/he be reached?

Her name is Linda Lawrence. She can be reached by phoning 447-3810.

6. Do you have a set calendar for law and motion? What are the dates and times for each location?

Law and Motion calendars are held on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings beginning at 9:00 a.m. There are dedicated times available for TRO hearings on Wednesday afternoons beginning at 1:30 p.m.

7. Do you have a set calendar for protective orders? What are the dates and times for each location?

Protective Order hearings are held on Wednesday mornings. The matters are divided into two calendars, one beginning at 9:30 a.m. and the other starting at 10:30 a.m.

8. How do you conduct the call on a calendar?

I schedule five matters per hour (three set on the hour with two set on the half-hour). I will call the cases set and then will take matters that can be summarily handled first. These include stipulations, continuances, dismissals and the like. Then, after these matters are taken care of I will take the calendar in order as it is shown on the docket.

9. Do you take resolved cases first?

Yes.

10. What if a client is late?

I will ask counsel if they anticipate the client appearing. If so, I will usually pass the matter to give the client an opportunity to appear. If the client does not appear, or is substantially late, I will ask counsel if the matter can proceed without the client. If not, I will entertain a motion for a continuance and I will give consideration for attorneys fees if requested.

11. What if the attorney is late?

I will usually wait to see if the attorney will show up. If, after an appropriate time the attorney does not show, I will consider a motion to continue the matter and for attorneys fees.

12. Do you have case managers? What do they do? What is the process when a case manager is involved?

Yes. Our case manager is Debbie Taylor. She handles all of Second District and she splits her time between Farmington and Ogden. She has a domestic manager conference and seeks to get a settlement of issues between the parties. If there is no settlement, then she will attempt to get the parties to begin the discovery process, get them to begin their mediation and will also attempt to get custody evaluations started.

13. Do you use mediation? How?

Yes. I strongly believe in mediation. I will require the parties to attempt mediation before I certify a case for trial unless there is a very good reason why mediation would not work (protective order circumstance or one party lives out of state for instance).

14. Do you use Special Masters? How?

Yes. In high conflict custody/visitation matters I have found that a special master is helpful. I will appoint a Master, determine how the parties will pay for the service, and order the parties to cooperate with the Master. I feel that the Master can be given some reasonable authority to handle day to day decisions as needed without requiring the parties to come back to court for interim visitation and custody modifications.

15. Do you conduct evidentiary hearings?

Yes, on a very limited basis. Due to my workload I do not conduct many. These are handled, when necessary, by the judges.

16. Do you handle matters through proffer?

Yes.

17. Does your clerk send out the notice for a pre-trial?

Normally the clerk who schedules my pre-trials in the front office will send out notice. If the matter is set by me in court or by telephone conference I will have my in-court clerk send out the notice.

18. What do you require the parties to bring to a pre-trial?

I would ask that they bring their tax statement from the last tax year and their four most recent paycheck stubs. Further, the parties should have filed a pre-trial Financial Declaration with a reasonable proposal for settlement attached prior to the pre-trial conference.

19. How do you view your role in pre-trials? Do you guide settlement of the issues?

I try to settle as many issues as I can and narrow the issues that cannot be settled.

20. Do you have a particular form that you use for financial declarations?

I like the form used in the Third Judicial District. There is no form that is standardized in our district at this time.

21. What financial verification do you require?

The last tax return filed by the parties and the last four paycheck stubs for each party.

22. When is it appropriate to bring a child to court?

I do not feel that a child should be brought to court at any time unless a special interview setting has been made for the child. I will notify the parties when that interview is to be held which is normally in the afternoon after school (when appropriate) and it will not be conducted during a law and motion calendar.

23. How do you handle allegations of abuse?

I suggest, and will sometimes recommend, that the complaining party report the matter to the Division of Child and Family Services if it hasn’t been reported at the time of the hearing.

24. How long do you schedule for a law and motion matter?

I will schedule five matters for an hour period of time.

25. How long for a pre-trial?

I schedule twenty minutes for each pre-trial conference. I will give attorneys the opportunity to negotiate at the pre-trial conference but would prefer that counsel and parties do their primary negotiation prior to the pre-trial conference and leave the time there for fine tuning their agreement.

26. What if we anticipate that the matter will exceed that time?

My clerk gets few calls indicating that a matter will take more time than scheduled. If an attorney feels that a case will reasonably require additional time, the moving party should file a motion seeking additional time and I will usually try to set up a conference call to discuss the need for additional time and the scheduling of the matter as needed.

27. Is a minute entry signed by the Commissioner a final order?

No.

28. What expectation do you have regarding the dress of the parties?

I would ask that each attorney and party dress appropriately for court. Parties should not wear shorts, halter or tank tops, or hats.

29. Can you appoint a guardian-ad-litem? What is the process?

Yes. I will appoint the Second District Office of the Guardian ad Litem when facts warrant the appointment. I will also appoint a private Guardian ad Litem in a custody/visitation case when the facts would support the appointment. In cases where a private Guardian ad Litem is appointed, I will also order how payment is to be made.

30. What if there is a concurrent action in juvenile court?

Based upon proper motion, and if the facts warrant the certification to juvenile court, I will certify the case.

31. What authority do you exercise with regard to contempt?

I will make findings of contempt when appropriate. If an evidentiary hearing is necessary then I will certify the case to the assigned judge for hearing.

32. What if the action is a violation of a recent order by the judge? Does the matter have to come before the Commissioner for certification before it can be taken to the judge?

The matter is still to be brought before the Commissioner unless the Judge has specifically ordered the matter be brought directly to him/her.

33. Do you hear Motions for Summary Judgment?

No. These are heard by the assigned judge as are motions to dismiss an action.

34. What if the matter is taken under advisement and quite a bit of time has elapsed? Do we need to file a document, or is a call to the clerk sufficient?

A call to my clerk or a letter can be sent.

35. What complaints or concerns do you see with the practitioners who appear before you?

I think that the attorneys that appear in my court do a good job in representing their clients. I would ask that the attorneys appear on time, have their clients be prepared for the hearing, be prepared themselves, and conduct the hearing as quickly and as informatively as possible. I listen, and it does no good to repeat specific points or facts unless I have questions about them. I also feel that counsel should discuss the case between themselves before coming to court. Too many attorneys wait until coming to court to begin their negotiations. This bogs down the hearings and can often lead to a delayed calendar making those that are prepared and on time suffer delay as well.

I try to read everything provided for a hearing but lately some of the attachments have been voluminous. Bearing in mind that each morning your case will be one of ten scheduled, I cannot effectively read hundreds of pages for any one hearing and be prepared for my other hearings. Further, without some direction from the provider, I cannot decipher multiple pages of account ledgers, check stubs and the like. Therefore, some of the documentation provided could be reduced to summaries with highlighted portions which reflect points of significant importance.

36. What should practitioners do to improve their representation?

Be prepared. Have your exhibits and documents provided to me ahead of time (at least 24 hours before your hearing time) by way of “courtesy copies”. Make sure attachments have been attached. Make your arguments as complete, but as brief as possible understanding that I have read the pleadings and documents provided. Finally, each attorney should be familiar enough with his/her case to anticipate questions I might ask, and the attorney should be prepared to answer them.

37. Do you sanction attorneys for abuse of process?

I have not had to do so yet but would consider it if necessary.

38. Do you sanction attorneys for inappropriate courtroom behavior?

I have not had to do so yet but would consider it if necessary. I have had to sanction a pro se litigant for inappropriate actions made during a hearing.

39. What should attorneys do when a child emancipates and the child support is automatically adjusted?

Follow the law. Do a recalculation of child support based upon the remaining number of children using the last used incomes for the parties. If the parties want to stipulate to a modification of child support based upon current income they are welcome to do that. If there is no agreement, and a change is appropriate under Utah law and the language of the decree, then file a petition to modify and have the matter finalized by the court.

40. What problems do you see in pleadings? In Orders?

In pleadings:

1. Mixing up the parties. Once a petitioner always a petitioner and the same for the respondent. Even if a respondent is seeking affirmative relief (petition to modify or order to show cause) that does not make her/him a petitioner.

2. No attaching attachments.

3. Attachments are voluminous and hard to discern relevant information.

4. Responsive pleadings that affirm or deny “paragraph number 4" as opposed to affirming or denying the “request for possession of the home.”

In orders:

1. Including “findings” which were not made as findings, or including “dicta” not intended for the order.

41. Do you have any special concerns (pet peeves)?

I ask the attorneys to stand when they present their portion of the case.

I ask the attorneys to be on time and to have their clients appear on time as well.

I ask the attorneys to get to the point and discuss relevant issues.

42. Do you require an Order to Show Cause for contempt?

Yes.