About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1989 Utah L. Rev. 859 (1989)
From Guesswork to Guidelines--The Adoption of Uniform Child Support Guidelines in Utah

handle is hein.journals/utahlr1989 and id is 861 raw text is: From Guesswork to Guidelines-The Adoption of Uniform Child Support Guidelines in Utah Hon. Judith Mitchell Billings* This Article describes the development and enactment of statewide uniform child support guidelines in Utah. The Article first focuses on the impetus for the judiciary's involvement, includ- ing federal statutory changes and the inadequacy of current child support determinations. The development process then is de- scribed, including the existing legal and political environment, the resources used by the Utah Judicial Council's Child Support Guideline Task Force (Task Force) and the policy choices that ultimately guided the selection of a guideline methodology. Finally, the Article explains the political obstacles to implementation of uniform child support guidelines and compares the guidelines im- plemented by the Utah Judicial Council with those ultimately adopted by the Utah Legislature. I. FORMATION AND EDUCATION OF THE GUIDELINE TASK FORCE Prompted by the enactment of the Child Support Enforce- ment Amendments of 19841 (Amendment) and its implementing regulations,2 the Board of District Court Judges (Board), the governing body of trial judges in Utah, examined how Utah courts set child support awards. The Board concluded there was no uni- form procedure for handling the award of child support in Utah's courts. The Board, therefore, requested the Utah Judicial Council, the policy-making body of the judiciary, to establish a diverse com- mittee to consider adoption of uniform child support guidelines. As a result, in 1987, the Utah Judicial Council created the Task Force to examine the current procedures for setting child * Judge, Utah Court of Appeals. B.A. 1965, J.D. 1977, University of Utah. This Article is adapted from a thesis submitted by the author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Laws in Judicial Process at the University of Virginia. Judge Billings was a trial judge for the Third Judicial District, State of Utah, from 1982 to 1986. She was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals in 1987. Judge Billings is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Utah College of Law and served as chair of the Utah Judicial Council's Child Support Guideline Task Force. 1. 42 U.S.C. § 667 (Supp. V 1987). 2. 45 C.F.R. § 302.56 (1988).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most