Can I Use A Logo For Personal Use?

Logos serve to represent a given
organization or company through a visual image that can be easily understood
and recognized. A logo generally involves symbols, stylized text or both. Logos
are often created by a graphic artist in consultation with a company and
marketing experts.

Three categories of logos exist and are often used in
combination. These three categories are:

• Ideographs
  – freeform images that can be entirely abstract.
• Pictographs
  – symbolic, representational images.
• Logotypes
  – simple, textual representations, like a company’s initials.

As a key part of an organization’s identity, a logo must try to communicate the brand essence of a company or what the organization represents. This makes designing logos a critical job for a graphic designer and is often a creative process that is heavy in research and consultation. For international organizations, cultural differences in symbolism or the associations of colors must be considered.

A logo isn’t intended to explain or directly sell a company.
Instead, its sole purpose is to identify the company in a way that is memorable
and familiar. For example, Apple uses a bitten apple as its logo. The bitten
apple does not explain what the company does or sells in any way, but it
is distinctive and recognizable.

A logo is meant to be long-term as it is intended to become
familiar to customers and promote brand loyalty. As a result, logos are
generally not redesigned very often.

1.
Simple

Simple logos are the ones people can
recognize as soon as they see them. The simplest logos are the ones people
remember the most.

2.
Scalable

A great logo should be simple enough
to be able to be scaled down or up and still look good.

3.
Memorable / Impactful

A great logo should be impactful.
You want to capture your viewer’s attentions and leave an impression (a
positive impression, hopefully).

4.
Versatile

A great logo should look equally
good on any web device and on any kind of print material.

5.
Relevant

A great logo should be relevant to
your practice. It has to have meaning that relates to the work you are doing.

A
logo makes you stand out from the competition

Perhaps
the most fundamental function of a logo is giving your business a unique mark
that differentiates you from other businesses. This is especially
important if your business has competition (which 99.9% of them do). Before you
get a logo for your business you’ll want to research what your competitors’
look like so you can position yourself. Check out how the Cactus Dental logo
separates themselves from the sea of cliché tooth industry by
taking a feature unique to their geography and turning it into a
toothbrush.

A
logo identifies key information about your business

Along
with demarcating your business, a good logo also provides your customer
with some crucial information about your company: it can communicate the
industry you exist in, the service you provide, your target demographic and
your brand values.

For
example, a company might use circuit imagery into their logo to show that
they operate in the software industry. Or they might use a specific color to
communicate they are committed to being green/environmental. Or they might use
a stylish font to highlight that they are luxurious. Check out how Wild
Hearts uses an image of a book with a heart in it to show that their business
specializes in romance novels

When Do You Need Permission to Use a Logo?

A logo or trademark is any photograph, word, or symbol used to identify a brand, service, or product. You need permission to use a logo unless it is for editorial or information purposes, such as when a logo is used in a written article or being used as part of a comparative product statement.

Other than these two instances, you should
never assume you can use a trademarked logo. A person or company should
never use a trademark or logo without written permission from its owner. To get
permission, write a letter to the trademark owner. Include a description of why
you are asking and how the logo will be used. Third parties should never use
someone else’s logo without a licensed agreement, including program and
corporate logos.

In certain cases, a person or
company involved in logo programs give third parties standing permission
to use their trademarks. Depending on the company, the logo program may state
any specific requirements and technological compatibility, company
relationships, and program membership information. However, even then, third
parties cannot use logos without a specific agreement.

More than that, trademarked companies
often have resale policies for their products. A policy may indicate that
the retailer or reseller can never change the trademark or corporate logo
appearing on company products. Trying to replace a company’s logo with your own
goes against the company’s written policy and is never allowed without a
written agreement.

Why Is Getting Permission to Use a Logo
Important?

First of all, getting permission to use a
trademark or logo is important because doing so provides legal protection. A
trademark naturally grants legal protection to its owner against anyone using
it unlawfully. However, receiving permission gives you the legal right to go
ahead and use it without worrying about any repercussions.

The United States trademark law as stated in the Lanham Act allows a non-owner of a registered trademark to make “fair use” of it without permission. Fair use includes using a logo in editorial content, among other situations.

You also don’t need to ask formal
permission from a corporation to use its logo if the usage doesn’t create any
impressions that the logo endorses or associates with another company. This
scenario could result in a company complaint.

Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule determining what “fair use” actually means. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) cannot decide if a certain use falls under the “fair” category or even advise on any trademark violations. When in doubt, it’s best to consult an experienced attorney to learn whether you should use a trademark or logo.

However, the Publishing Law Center states that, unlike a copyright, a trademarked logo’s ownership can last forever. Logos don’t even need to be registered as trademarks to be protected under current law. This means that using someone else’s logo without permission, even if it’s unregistered, is against the law.

When you decide that you need to use a
trademark or logo, here are the steps you should follow:

• Determine if gaining permission is necessary
• Identify the logo’s owner
• Identify which rights you need to request
• Contact the owner with a description of your intended use and negotiate the required payment, if any
• Receive your trademark permission in writing

Reasons to Consider Getting Permission to
Use a Logo

Since it’s difficult to know what falls
under “fair use,” here are some straightforward reasons why you would
want to request permission to use a trademark or logo:

• You want to use a third party’s logo or trademark
  to make and sell crafts. This will require a trademark license.
• The logo’s size, usage, or placement implies that
  you are affiliated with the trademark owner, or that you’re being endorsed
  by the company. This is a direct violation of the owner’s trademark
  rights.
• Commercial uses such as promotion, advertising,
  and marketing require written permission except in the cases of editorial
  or comparative advertising use. This can even include business-sponsored
  activities such as public presentations.
• Even though using the logo as part of
  a comparative statement in an advertisement, such as comparing one
  fast food restaurant’s hamburger to another, falls under “fair
  use,” comparative statements tend to provoke companies into legal
  action. You may want to have a lawyer review the advertisement before
  publishing it and make any necessary changes to avoid a worst-case
  scenario.

When Is Permission Not Required?

Other than using a trademark or logo for
editorial purposes or as part of comparative product statements, you don’t
need to ask permission if the logo’s use will educate, inform, or express
opinion protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment. This includes
displaying a logo in a work of fiction, whether it’s a graphic novel or film.

As long as the fictional work doesn’t
confuse the viewer as to who owns the trademark, using logos in fiction falls
under fair use because it adds to a story’s realism. However, Hollywood has
flipped this rule around by selling product placements to trademark owners as a
means of advertisement, which has been a lucrative move.

Another gray area in trademark law is
what’s known as trademark parodies.
Generally speaking, you don’t need to request permission to imitate a trademark
if you’re poking fun at it. One example is the parody newspaper The San
Francisco Chomical, which parodies The San Francisco Chronicle. Offensive
parodies can trigger lawsuits from the trademark or logo owner, so it’s
important to weigh the consequences before going ahead with your trademark
parody.

There are also circumstances where you can
use media logos on your website without violating trademark rights and opening
yourself up to infringement claims. Just remember that you cannot confuse
customers into thinking you own the logo, so it’s best to display such
trademarks with “as seen in” phrases.

In general, you won’t run into trademark
parody problems if the parody:

• Doesn’t confuse consumers; they get the joke and
  know that it doesn’t come from the original trademark owner
• Doesn’t compete directly with the trademarked
  product
• Does parody the trademark or logo, which means it
  pokes fun specifically at the trademark

Examples of Ways Someone Can Use a Trademark
without Permission

Competitors and individuals don’t need
written permission to use a logo if the use falls under the following reasons:

• Descriptive
  use. Adjectives can be trademarked,
  but you might have a hard time complaining about competitive use. For
  example, if you trademark the name SPEEDY for your oil change services,
  but a competing business uses the phrase “speedy service,”
  that’s not considered a violation. A trademark does not give you monopoly
  rights over words.
• Comparative
  use. One of the most high-profile
  comparative uses was when the Pepsi Challenge pit Pepsi against its
  competitor Coca-Cola. As long as the trademark display is correct, any competitor
  can use your trademarked logo to compare benefits or effectiveness.
• Collateral
  use. If you own a lawn mower repair shop,
  you can legally advertise the fact you repair Brand X lawn mowers, even
  though you don’t make those lawn mowers or own the company’s logo. You
  just can’t suggest that you have a relationship with the company or that
  the company has approved of you.
• Nominative
  use. A person can use someone else’s
  trademark as a reference without infringing. For example, if you need to
  use the band name the Rolling Stones in a profit-making venture, you’re
  allowed to do so. That’s because there are only so many ways you can
  describe the legendary band. However, there are limitations. You can’t
  overuse the trademark or logo. So, if you tried to sell Rolling Stones
  t-shirts, you’re infringing, but you can organize an unauthorized fan club
  and sell memberships.

Copyright and Logos

In order for a work to have copyright
protection, it must reach a requisite level of creativity. Many logos, however,
do not. Since copyright can’t protect a name, colors or the design of the logo,
most simple logos simply do not have the required level of creativity to be
considered copyrightable. However, many ornate or artistic ones do.

And here lies the confusion with logos. Many of them actually qualify for both trademark and copyright protection. In fact, the entire Omega case hinges in part upon a logo stamped onto a watch being copyright protected (thus making the import of the watch a violation of the copyright).

In short though, if a logo would
qualify for copyright protection as a piece of artwork separate from its use as
a corporate identifier, it is copyright protected. Nothing in the law makes the
two rights mutually exclusive so many logos can and are enforced using both
trademark and copyright.

Logo Lawyer Free Consultation

When you need legal help regarding a logo, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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Family Lawyer Tooele Utah

An important point for fathers to consider is that once a custody order is awarded by the court, any attempt to change it requires going back to court. Hence, it is important that you go for whatever custody arrangement you want the first time you go to court rather than assume that you can easily change it later. Doing so may be very difficult, sometimes impossible, and always expensive. Hire an experienced Tooele Utah family lawyer to represent you in your child custody lawsuit.

How much time divorced fathers want to be with their children is often dependent on their opinion of their former wife as a mother. Those who regard their ex-wives as irresponsible, alcoholic, worthless mothers believe it is their mission to rescue their children. Under no conditions do they want their ex to have custody. Others consider their former wives to be great mothers and that their children are best served by being with them.

Regardless of the reason, mothers end up with primary custody considerably more often than fathers.

Fathers who can’t imagine not being able to see their children on a daily basis and who are adamant about being actively involved with their children will want to go for either full or joint custody. Giving custody to the mother will simply not do, as the father will be relegated to the role of “visitor” for his children. But, as we have seen, the father must be interested and willing to make the necessary sacrifices in terms of his work, personal life, and sleep. Yes, parenting is exhausting.

A number of other factors influence how involved divorced fathers want to be in their children’s lives. Fathers who resolved their differences with their former spouses through mediation are much more likely to want to see their children than are fathers who fought with their former wives in court. The bitter experience of litigation sometimes makes the fathers so angry that they avoid seeing their ex-wives and kids altogether. Also, in litigated custody cases, the mother is usually also angry at the father and may try to get back at him by turning the children against him. When he picks up the kids, he feels their coolness, which dampens his interest in being with them the next time.

Primary Custody

Divorced fathers are rarely granted primary physical custody (1 chance in 10) and the newly separated father should not assume that he will be the lucky one. Unless he can demonstrate that he has been the primary nurturing parent for the children since birth, most attorneys will advise that he is wasting time and money to pursue primary custody.

In addition to being aware that your chance of being granted primary custody is low, you should keep three other factors in mind. First, if you lose your bid for primary custody, you are likely to end up in a worse situation in terms of visitation, child support, and property settlement than if you had sought joint custody or allowed your former spouse to have primary custody. This is because her lawyer will use all of the legal weight against you to crush you and back you off. If the judge decides against you, he or she could order limited visitation, high child support, alimony, and a biased property settlement.

Second, a court trial over custody is likely to end any possibility of an amicable relationship with your former spouse forever. Once you turn lawyers loose on each other, the emotional trauma stays with you forever, and you blame it on each other.

Third, your children may be brought into court to testify. This will also be a traumatizing event for them as both lawyers will try to confuse them and twist their testimony on the stand against the other parent. Your children can blame you for putting them through this ordeal so keep this in mind.

Finally, your experienced Tooele Utah family lawyer emphasize the theme that the most important custody issue in the trial is the psychological need of the child to live with the father. The mother’s need for the child is an irrelevant legal issue. Your Tooele Utah family lawyer will convince the judge or jury that you are the primary psychological parent of the child and that it is in the child’s best interest to live with you.

Joint Custody

Joint legal custody means that both parents have equal legal authority and control over the educational, medical, and psychological decisions that affect their children. Joint physical custody refers to where the children live and means that each parent has the children half of the time.
Fathers who go for joint custody have several motives for doing so. Not all of them are good ones. In deciding whether you want joint custody, it is important to look at your motives.

Good Motives for Wanting Joint Custody

There are at least four good motives for wanting joint custody.

Love and Desire to Be with Your Children

Probably the best motive for wanting joint custody of your children is your love and desire to be with your children and your insistence that you will be an active and equal participant in your children’s lives. Such an interest suggests that you have had this role throughout their lives. If you have not been in the active role of coparent and suddenly decide that you do want that, your motives are suspect.

Feeling that Your Children Will Benefit from Time with You

Other fathers seek joint custody because they regard themselves to be wonderful parents whose children benefit from being with them. They feel that the more exposure their children have to them, the better. These fathers do not seek sole custody, as they also regard their ex-wife as a good parent around whom children also benefit. In effect, they believe that their children are fortunate to have two loving parents and want them to benefit from each.

Protection from Inept Mother

Other fathers may seek joint custody believing that the less time the children live with their mother, the better. In effect, they are attempting to rescue the children from their former spouse, whom they view as a negative influence on the children. The father may also believe that he can’t win sole custody so his next best option is joint custody. Such fathers usually view mothers as having any of several liabilities: They are preoccupied with their career and neglect their children, they abuse alcohol or other substances around the children, or they have very poor judgment. An example of the latter is the mother who left her 3-year-old locked in the house while she went to the grocery store.

Questionable Motives for Wanting Joint Custody

There is also a dark side to the motives of some fathers who seek joint custody. If you are the mother in a child custody lawsuit, speak to an experienced Tooele Utah family lawyer before agreeing to joint custody.

Better Division of Property

Among the suspect motives is using the threat of joint custody to get a more favorable division of property settlement. Judges who give mothers custody of the children also tend to give them the house. Fathers who convince judges that they deserve joint custody end up getting a better division of property as the housing and standard of living of the father must also be considered.

Lower Child Support

Some fathers use joint custody to pay less child support. If their former spouse is awarded primary physical custody, the judge will require the father to pay heavy child support because the law assumes that she will bear the expense of taking care of the children. But with a joint custody arrangement, the expenses are shared and the justification for the former spouse getting a big child support award vanishes. The problem with this motive is that everyone may lose. The father really does not want to take care of his children, the mother has more limited resources to do so, and the children end up living with an irritated father and an impoverished mother.

Guilt

A less deceitful but still suspect motive for wanting joint custody is feeling guilty for ending the marriage and leaving the children in the lurch. Fathers sometimes feel that having joint custody will show the children that they still love them. The problem with this course is that if the father wins, he is often unprepared for the role of an active father. He may have been the traditional father who let his wife do most of the parenting work, which means that he has no skills in terms of how to take care of children. If he is awarded joint custody, the children may lose in living with a father who doesn’t know how to take care of them and who is frustrated by their interference in his work/career.

Get Back at the Former Spouse

Finally, some fathers use joint custody to get back at their ex-wife. The father may have no real interest in having the children with him half of the time except that he is keeping them away from (and thereby hurting) his former wife. In effect, he is using joint custody to punish her. Don’t let this happen to you. Seek the assistance of an experienced Tooele Utah family lawyer before agreeing to joint custody. The lawyer will review you case and advise you on whether joint custody is in your interest or not. Sometimes it makes sense to fight for sole custody of the children especially if your spouse is planning to use the joint custody arrangement to get back at you.

Benefits of Joint Custody

Children want their parents to stay married because it maintains ready access to each parent. Children of married parents go to bed and wake up with their parents in the house. When divorce occurs and one parent is awarded custody, the other parent (usually the father) is no longer in the house and the children may be uncertain when they will see him again. Although joint custody still means that the child wakes up in the house with only one parent, there is equal time between parents. Just as soon as the children tire of being with one parent, it is time to go and stay with the other parent. Psychologically, the children remain connected to both parents.

The ability to see each parent as much as they choose is a big advantage for kids whose parents divorce, and perhaps the primary benefit of a joint custody arrangement.

Other positives derive from joint custody. Fathers who see their children regularly are happier about their relationships with their children and this translates into paying child support more regularly. Another positive consequence of joint custody is that fathers have more input into the decisions that affect their children. In sole-custody situations, the mother can effectively cut out the father from medical, educational, and religious decisions concerning the child. For example, as a joint- custody parent, you have the legal right to be involved in your child’s educational and medical decisions. As a noncustodial father, you have no legal rights and your former spouse can schedule surgery for your children if she wants to without consulting you. One father said that his ex- wife wanted to put their son under the knife for a knee problem. The father had joint custody and insisted on another opinion. The son did not have the operation and was fine.

Joint custody gives the father not only more physical presence in his children’s lives, but also more involvement in their development. For example, the mother may disregard the value of karate or scuba diving as activities that would be beneficial to the children’s development. Fathers, on the other hand, may hold very strongly that the confidence-building and risk-taking aspects of the various activities are valuable and that such exposure would be important to the children. Both parents bring to the child more than either could alone. An experienced Tooele Utah family lawyer can help you get joint custody of your children.

Tooele Utah Family Lawyer Free Consultation

When you need legal help with a family law matter in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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Probate Lawyer Ogden Utah

The outcome of a probate litigation is determined by the evidence filed by the parties. If you are fighting a probate litigation in Utah, seek the assistance of an experienced Ogden Utah probate lawyer. Utah probate law is complex.

When you file any case in a court of law, the court will investigate the case. The law has its own unique rules for factual investigation. To a scientist, a fact is that which can be empirically observed. To a lawyer in a dispute, a fact is that which can be proven to a jury or to a judge sitting as the finder of fact. Although a scientist may find it highly probable as an empirical matter that the accused was present at the scene of the crime, if a court finds otherwise, then it is a “fact” for purposes of the trial that the accused was not present.

One way to keep this point in mind is to draw a distinction between evidence and facts. In a trial, evidence is the empirical information that the lawyer presents to the court. A fact is that which the court finds to be true, which may or may not be consistent with most of the evidence.
An experienced Ogden Utah probate lawyer can assist you with the right evidence that you need to produce in order for you to succeed in your probate litigation. In general, the court is permitted to consider two types of evidence: sworn oral testimony given in court; and physical objects, such as a document, a photograph, or a knife. All evidence must be authenticated. If the evidence is in the form of testimony, the witness testifying authenticates his or her testimony by swearing to tell the truth and then identifying himself or herself. If the evidence is in the form of a physical object, then a sworn witness must usually identify the object. In this way, the court knows that all evidence is what it purports to be.
Further, the witness testifying or authenticating an object must lay a foundation for the testimony; that is, the witness must explain how he or she knows the information about which he or she is testifying. The witness can testify only to facts gained through direct observation and is usually not permitted to inject opinion or speculation. A witness’s opinion is admissible when the witness is testifying as an expert. If you are about to testify as a witness in a probate litigation, you should consult with an experienced Ogden Utah probate lawyer.

Expert opinion testimony is admissible because it is thought that lay jurors can decide certain kinds of issues only with the assistance of those with specialized knowledge or training.

Evidence is admissible only if it is relevant; that is, the evidence must tend to prove or disprove a fact of consequence to the action. There are complex rules that govern evidence in Utah courts. Some evidence can be excluded by the probate court in Utah.

Reasons to Exclude Relevant Evidence

Even though evidence is authenticated and relevant, it may nevertheless be excluded because of concerns about its reliability or its potential to prejudice the court, or for other reasons. It may be useful to consider an example of evidence that is excluded based on each of these concerns.

Hearsay

Hearsay is the classic example of evidence excluded because of its unreliability. Hearsay is an out-of-court statement offered into evidence for the truth of the matter asserted in the statement. Because the statement was made out of court, the court cannot assess its reliability, and thus it is excluded. A statement would not be hearsay if it were offered to prove something other than the matter asserted in the statement. In the end, the hearsay rule can often be circumvented by thinking of a reason to admit the testimony other than to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Lawyers speak of this as offering the evidence for a “nonhearsay purpose,” and it is an effective way of putting before the court testimony that may be helpful to one’s case but which would otherwise be inadmissible as hearsay.

It also is possible to get out-of-court statements admitted into evidence by persuading the court that the statement fits within one of the exceptions to the rule excluding hearsay. These exceptions are generally based on the idea that certain hearsay, because of the circumstances in which the statement was made, is sufficiently reliable to be admitted into evidence. For example, statements made by someone against his or her own interest can often be introduced into evidence even though they are technically hearsay, on the assumption that anyone who admits something against his or her own interest is probably telling the truth.

An Example Of Privilege

A statement made by a client to his attorney for the purpose of obtaining legal advice provides an example of evidence excluded for other policy reasons. Such a statement is a privileged attorney-client communication and is generally not disclosed to the court unless the client waives the privilege. The statement, of course, may be of enormous relevance and reliability, but the policy of encouraging people to seek legal advice by permitting them to speak freely to their lawyer is thought to outweigh the value of admitting the privileged communication into evidence.

The Problem of Credibility

Even assuming that all available evidence can be brought before the court, lawyers must anticipate that the evidence on which they have based their reasoning may be disbelieved. For example, the lawyer may have advised the client that the client has a binding contract based on the client’s description of certain conversations with another party. If the court disbelieves that testimony, however, then insofar as the law is concerned, there is no contract and the lawyer’s reasoning was based on a false factual premise.

If a client is trying to create the facts necessary to give rise to a right or duty, as in the case of a client who is trying to create some kind of contractual right, the lawyer must keep in mind that only those facts that can be proven to a court will give rise to the enforceable right or duty that the client seeks. Thus, lawyers often emphasize the need to enhance the credibility of the client’s version of the facts by keeping written records or having witnesses to transactions. At the same time, when the events already have occurred and the client wants simply to know the legal consequences of those events, the lawyer should be alert to the fact that legal reasoning should be based only on those facts that can be established in a court of law.

One mark of a creative lawyer is the ability to marshal as many policy arguments on the side of the client as possible. A particularly strong argument is one that demonstrates that two policies that often are opposed in theory or in their consequences — such as efficiency and justice — both lead to the same result.11 This argument is especially strong because the lawyer, by finding support in both policies, in effect has neutralized one of the potential arguments against the client’s position.

Two policies may operate independently of each other in consequence in a particular situation. That is, the result that furthers one policy would not necessarily further or impede the other policy.

Sensitivity to independently operating policies can strengthen or add to the sophistication of the lawyer’s argument. First, an awareness that there are sets of competing policies that in their consequences operate independently of the issue to be resolved allows the lawyer to generate a variety of ways in which to fashion a result favorable to the client. The lawyer does this by considering the various permutations that are produced by different combinations of independently operating policies. The lawyer can thus present the court with several different ways in which it can rule in favor of the client.

Second, once the lawyer is aware that there is more than one way to prevail, then discussion can begin with the client on whether one form of victory would be preferable to another. Perhaps the client would prefer a rigid rule over a flexible standard. Each time an alternative presents itself, there is a potential question concerning whether the alternative is preferable. Knowledge of the alternatives allows the lawyer to identify issues that might otherwise be overlooked and to determine whether the resolution of the issue matters to the client.

Third, if the lawyer is aware that a particular judge is predisposed toward certain independently operating policies, the lawyer can appeal to that predisposition by adopting that policy. For example, if the lawyer is aware that a particular judge generally favors rigid rules, the lawyer may argue not only that the client should prevail, but that the relief should be cast in the form of a rigid rule, with the request for a standard as a fallback position. In that way, the lawyer identifies the client’s claim with policies that the court is known to favor, even though as a practical matter those policies are irrelevant to the merits of the claim.
In nearly every case in which the law is indeterminate, most lawyers nevertheless have an opinion about the most likely result. The opinions are based on informed speculation concerning the way in which courts will resolve the relevant policy judgments — both the judgments about the relative weight of policies and the judgments about the relationship between ends and means. The speculation is informed by the lawyer’s knowledge of the context in which these policy judgments will be made. The context includes a number of factors.

Another factor influencing policy judgments is the philosophy of the individual judge deciding the case. Specific judges accord greater weight to some policies than to others and, in doubtful cases, are likely to decide the dispute in the way that furthers the policies they prefer. The precise facts of the situation giving rise to the dispute also affect which result will prevail. This is so because the relationship between ends and means varies with the situation. Accordingly, as the circumstances change, the total policy benefit derived from each result changes. Different results thus seem preferable under different circumstances. A final factor included within the context is the existence of binding precedent and, to a lesser extent, persuasive authority from other jurisdictions. In the great majority of cases, courts decide disputes in a way that they can plausibly describe as consistent with applicable precedents. If the precedents have regularly given preference to one policy over the other in a given situation, it becomes more difficult for the court to reverse the preference in a similar situation and still maintain that it has followed the law.

Where the lawyer is counseling a client, the lawyer can make clear that more than one outcome is possible and explain the considerations that would militate in favor of each. The lawyer’s knowledge of the prevailing policy preferences of the local courts may assist the lawyer in estimating the probability that a court would reach any given result. Where the lawyer is an advocate, the lawyer is expected by the norms of the profession to urge the court to prefer those policies that will lead to the result most favorable to the client, regardless of the lawyer’s personal preferences.

Utah probate law is complex. Not only will the probate court consider the Utah probate statute, it will also take into consideration the policy underlying the statute. The court will also take into consideration precedents. An experienced Ogden Utah probate lawyer is aware of the policies behind the Utah probate statute and the precedents that can be applied to your case. This is something which you may never be able to do on your own no matter how much research you do. An experienced Ogden Utah probate lawyer is a professional and as such is aware of the law.

Ogden Utah Probate Lawyer Free Consultation

When you need legal help with a probate case in Ogden Utah, please call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506

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How Can I Stop My Home From Foreclosure?

Although foreclosure can be of the most lucrative opportunities that investors, as well as first time house buyers, it can be a problem for an average house owner. I’ve written about stopping foreclosure before here and in other places. Most often, foreclosed house can be very depressing to owners as their homes have become a big part of their lives and families. On the other hand, you can avoid foreclosure of your house if you try to work things out with your lender in terms of your budget and financial capabilities we understand that being in foreclosure is a scary thing. You are probably wondering how you can stop your house from going into foreclosure.

There are many options available when facing foreclosure. This may include reinstating the loan, forbearance, loan modification, mortgage refinancing, sale of the property, deed instead of foreclosure, or bankruptcy filing. There are also many services that will work you to help with your situation. These companies can tailor a plan specific to your needs. It is most important to know that time is the worst enemy when facing foreclosure. Even if you are just one payment behind, you should do something rather than wait until you are left behind. This may sound like common sense, but many people fail to do something and pretend like nothing is wrong. Now, more than ever, people facing foreclosure need to be able to fin legal help to stop foreclosure and they need to do it immediately. Many lawyers and companies are offering assistance, but your guess is as good as mine, as to whether it’s a scam or not. No one has list of good companies and bad companies, so how are people facing foreclosure supposed to know who to turn to for assistance? Unfortunately, many families are in extremely worried about being unable to make their monthly mortgage payments, which can lead to foreclosure. None of us want to think that we will ever have to deal with foreclosure, but unfortunately, it can happen to anybody when they least expect. It is terrifying to think that your home could be at risk, so it is extremely important as a house owner to understand just how important this is and do everything important you can do to make sure it doesn’t happen to you. If you search the internet, you will find many websites that give you the information you need to make sure that you and your family never have to go through this.

If you ever feel as though you could be at risk of losing your house to foreclosure, then you absolutely must do everything you can to avoid it. Try talking to your loan company or somebody else that could help so that you can evaluate your options. The last thing you should do is start avoiding their phone calls and ignoring them as this will increase the chances of your home being foreclosed.

Unique features of Home foreclosure

Low asking price – the primary reason behind the popularity of home foreclosures are their low asking price. Foreclosed house are usually available at great discounts ranging from 20-50% lower than prevailing market prices, which make homes in foreclosure a great business.
Public auctions – as most of these foreclosure house are the bank and government owned properties, they are put on general sales which are a great platform to buy a house in foreclosure at an affordable cost for residential as well as investment purposes.

Diverse foreclosure houses for sale

With large number of home foreclosure flooding the real estate market, the buyer has a wide range of cost efficient house in foreclosure to consider ranging from small family houses to large properties in prime locations.

Short sales

To avoid the added costs of the house foreclosure process, bank sell the seized properties in pre-foreclosure though short sales at a significant discount. Foreclosure rates are rising quickly because of the slow economy and the financial problems people are having. They didn’t think they would ever find themselves trying to stop foreclosure on their property. People are forced to figure out which bills to pay and which to ignore. House foreclosure problems occur when people start missing mortgage payments and their lender starts calling. You need to know that you can stop it. You do not have to lose your house. Taking steps necessary to prevent foreclosure is not that hard.

Following the steps listed below will make your experience of searching for foreclosure homes relatively easy while ensuring you are safe and satisfactory purchase through foreclosure house:

Assess

The number one mistake many owners make when facing foreclosure is denial. Most owners do not stop house foreclosure simply because they are too embarrassed or upset to look at foreclosure directly. They would prefer to ignore collection calls and letters rather than face the real deal. If you avoid this one issue, you can often stop house foreclosure quite merely. As soon as you realize you may have problems paying your loan for a month or two, contact your lender and work out a payment schedule or solution. Depending on your situation, the lender may give you more time to pay, might work out a payment schedule so you can stop foreclosure, or buy it from you in exchange for forgiving the loan. The fact is, the lender only wants to get the money owed to them. Keeping the lines of communication open between you and the lender can help ensure that you stop the foreclosure process, simply because the lender will be reassured that you are responsible for your financial problems. If you stay in foreclosure by working out a solution with your lender, you will get peace of mind as well as a decent credit rating.

Alternate Financing

Most house owners face foreclosure simply because they cannot afford their home loan. In some cases, this is because the house loan is too large for their income. In other cases, it is merely because of an event, sudden illness or loss of job for example, have left them unable to pay. Fortunately, if your house loan bills are too high, there are several things you can do to stop home foreclosure.

Refinance with your lender – Your lender might be willing to refinance your current loan, giving you a long term and smaller monthly payments so that you can afford your payments.

Find a passive income – Renting part of your house of finding another way to make money over your regular income can help you make your mortgage payments on time and stop foreclosure.

Liquidate assets – Selling your property or other assets can help you pay off your debts and arrears, stop foreclosure, and get back on track financially.

Find refinancing from different lenders – There are many lenders out there competing for your business. Some may be willing to offer you refinancing. Even though you will pay by stretching out your loan, you can stop foreclosure by making your payments affordable again.

Find alternate ways

If you face a difficult situation in which you’re unable to pay your mortgage in the long term, either refinancing or talking to a lender might help. In such situation, you may need to bring in third party investors to stop. By offering your house for sale, you can likely make some money, preserve your credit card rating, keep your home equity and stop foreclosure as well. In some cases, you can even keep your house. If you cannot pay your mortgage, then letting go of the house as early as possible might be the best solution.

You might be able to get out of the financial situation you’re in by selling the house for enough money to pay the mortgage company and still have some money left to start over again. This is an excellent way to stop foreclosure and better your financial situation. Another way is to cut your spending down to the minimum. If you can cut back your spending, you will be able to avoid selling the house you love. If you are self—employed, one way to save money is stop renting an office and make an office in your house. You can also consider selling the cars and having just one. You can certainly take several actions aimed at preventing foreclosure. It may surprise you to learn that merely contacting your mortgage company and speaking to them about your current situation can help. Most times they will be willing to work out a way forward for you, such as agreeing with a payment arrangement or even allowing you to skip a month or two to give you some breathing space. This will enable you to catch up on the monthly payments that has been causing you so much stress.

On the other hand, you can avoid foreclosure if you try to work out things with your lender in terms of your budget and financial capabilities. Do not bury your head by keep missing payments and avoiding phone calls. Just give them a call today and try to work some things out and make sure you speak with an expert.

Foreclosure Lawyer Free Consultation

When you need legal help to stop a foreclosure in Utah, please call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506

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Real Estate Lawyer Orem Utah

In any construction activity, delay can play an important role. This has to be factored in when you are preparing the construction contract. Always hire an experienced Orem Utah real estate lawyer to prepare your construction contract. At Ascent Law, we can help you with quiet title actions, boundary disputes, adverse possession, evictions, and more.

In a construction contract, there should be a clause on excusable delay. Delays in contract performance can be caused by a wide variety of factors, both excusable and unexcusable, resulting in either late completion or increased costs, or both. The Excusable Delays clause provides that, except for defaults of subcontractors at any tier, the contractor shall not be in default for any failure to perform the contract if the failure arises from causes beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of the contractor. Examples of such causes include acts of God or of the public enemy, acts of the government, fires, floods, epidemics, quarantine restrictions, strikes, freight embargoes, and unusually severe weather. As to performance failures of subcontractors at any tier, the contractor shall not be in default if the cause of the failure was beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of either the prime contractor or the subcontractors. The delay is not excusable as to the prime contractor if the contracted supplies or services were obtainable from another source, or if the Contracting Officer ordered the contractor to obtain the supplies or services from another source and the contractor failed to comply reasonably with that order.

If the completion date was delayed by the inability of the contractor or his subcontractor to procure necessary materials, through a failure either to obtain timely commitments or to ascertain the availability of such materials prior to the submission of the bid, that is a matter for which relief cannot be granted even in equity. A prime contractor is excused from nonperformance or delays, to the extent that they render performance impossible, caused by defaults of subcontractors or suppliers if such defaults cannot be charged to the fault or negligence of the prime contractor, and it is immaterial whether or not the default of the subcontractor can be placed under one of the enumerated causes of excusability because such causes are illustrative and not exclusive.
The purpose of the article is to remove uncertainty and needless litigation by defining with more particularity the otherwise hazy area of unforeseeable events that might excuse nonperformance within the contract period and to protect the contractor from the unforeseeable. Contractors thus know they are not to be penalized for unexpected impediments to prompt performance, and since their bids can be based on the foreseeable and probable, rather than possible, hindrances.

A prudent contractor, in preparing bids for the commencement of work within a specified period and for the completion of the same within certain stipulated days thereafter, normally considers the weather conditions that ordinarily prevail during such season of the year at the site of the work. Inasmuch as weather conditions could adversely impact on the ability of a contractor, particularly a construction contractor, to perform, contractors are expected to include time in their bids or offers for foreseeable weather delays. However, notice of lost time due to adverse weather conditions is not the same as notice of an excusable delay due to unusually severe weather because the property owner has no information as to what was foreseeable by the contractor.

The term “unusually severe weather” does not include any and all weather that prevents work under the contract, but only means weather surpassing in severity the weather usually encountered or reasonably to be expected in the particular locality and during the same time of year involved in the contract. It must be weather that could not have been reasonably anticipated and that impeded performance over and above the amount that work would been impeded in a normal year. But the mere fact that the weather was cold enough to make performance of the work substantially more expensive than at other seasons of the year is not sufficient to substantiate an excusable delay, unless the contractor demonstrates that the weather was unusual.

ACTS OF GOD

Though rarely invoked as an excusable cause of delay, an act of God may occasion performance failures.

STRIKES

A contractor will not be automatically excused from performance merely because he establishes the existence of a strike. It must also be shown that the delay caused by the strike was beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of the contractor. He will not be excused where the strike resulted from his own unfair labor practices. Even if a contractor bears no initial fault for a particular cause of excusable delay, he must mitigate the effect of that delay. He cannot allow a possible cause of delay to develop, but must take such action as is reasonably available to him to prevent the delay. Therefore, if the strike involved a subcontractor or supplier, and if the contractor could have obtained the required supplies or materials from another source, but elected not to do so because of higher prices, he will normally not be excused. Similarly, the contractor will not be excused if he could not obtain the supplies delayed by the strike because he failed to place the order in a timely manner.

LACK OF ADEQUATE FINANCING

It is well settled that the contractor has the responsibility of either having adequate capital or having a reasonably established arrangement for obtaining the necessary capital required for contract performance at the time of contract execution. This does not mean that the contractor must have on hand the cash reserves to finance the entire cost of performance. Rather, the contractor must have available reasonable financial resources in the light of business customs and practices to finance the expected cost of production or performance.

Where the cause of the contractor’s inability to perform lies solely in a conspicuous undercapitalization of the corporation with relation to the obligation it undertakes under the contract, rather than deriving from a contingency beyond its control, such undercapitalization is not a circumstance beyond the contractor’s control as to be within the purview of any force majeure clause.

If the contractor’s financial condition was such that attempted performance of the contract would have rendered him hopelessly insolvent, or even an adjudicated bankrupt, he is not excused from the default in contract performance as a matter of law. Actual bankruptcy, or threat of the same, is no excuse for nonperformance under the Default article and does not relieve the contractor from liability for excess costs of reprocurement. Bankruptcy, insolvency, or undercapitalization cannot be considered as a cause for nonperformance beyond the control and without the fault of the contractor.

Constructive Change

By definition, a constructive change arises from either the conduct or the fault of the property owner. Conduct, circumstances that compel the contractor to accomplish work not called for by the contract, instructions (oral and written), and acts or omissions by the property owner that are of such a nature that they are inferred as having the same effect as the issuance of a formal change order are construed as constructive changes. The doctrine is based on equitable tenets and recognizes that an informal requirement (i.e., one not formalized by the issuance of a change order) for the performance of additional work under a contract is substantially equivalent to a formal requirement and must therefore be governed by similar principles. Stated differently, any conduct by the property owner that is not a formal change order, but that has the effect of requiring performance different from that prescribed by the original terms of the contract is a constructive change.

When a property owner, by his conduct, causes a contractor to perform changed work, such conduct may form the basis for a claim by the contractor. If the property owner compels the contractor to perform work not required by the contract, his order to perform, even if oral, constitutes an authorized, but unilateral change in the work and entitles the contractor to an equitable adjustment in accordance with the Changes provision of the contract.

ELEMENTS OF A CONSTRUCTIVE CHANGE

The constructive change doctrine is made up of two elements: the “change” element and the ‘order’ element. To find the change element, actual performance must be examined to determine whether it went beyond the minimum standards demanded by the terms of the contract. The order element is also a necessary ingredient in the constructive change concept. To be compensable under the Changes clause, the change must be one that the property owner ordered the contractor to make. The property owner, by his words or deeds, must require the contractor to perform work that is not a necessary part of his contract. This is something that differs from the advice, comments, suggestions, and opinions that property owner frequently offers to a contractor’s employees. And this is especially so where the contract standards are broad prescriptions of the performance specification type that give the contractor a wide measure of discretion in designing and manufacturing the end item.

DEFECTIVE SPECIFICATIONS

The cornerstone of the construction contract is the specification, with its applicable descriptive material, on which the basic issues of pricing, performance, and contract terms and conditions are founded. The objective of the specification is to establish (1) a description, or specification, of the supplies or services being acquired; (2) criteria for inspection and acceptance of the work; and (3) a base line for performance on which initial pricing and schedule are predicated. Obviously, the adequacy and clarity of the specification are of paramount importance to both parties.
A contractor is obligated to do what the plans and specifications direct him to do, and when he has done so in a good and workmanlike manner, he has discharged his responsibility under the contract. If the plans and specifications are deficient, or if they are inadequate or structurally wrong, it is the fault of the party preparing them and not of the contractor attempting to follow them. Where the contracts for supplies or services in accordance with specifications it has prepared, there is an implied warranty that if the specifications are followed, a satisfactory product will result. Accordingly, a contractor attempting to perform to defective specifications may be entitled to costs incurred in attempting to meet the requirements of the original specifications, as well as to costs resulting from mistakes in the plans.

It is a basic tenet of contract law that a contract must be read as a whole and in its entirety. It is equally elementary that meaning must, if at all possible, be given to the language employed in the contract and that the proper interpretation of a provision is a question of law. Technical words and words of art are given their technical meaning, unless the context or a usage that is applicable indicates a different meaning. One primary purpose of interpreting a contract in this manner is to ensure that no word is rejected, treated as a redundancy, or assumed to be meaningless if any meaning that is reasonable and consistent with the other parts of the contract can possibly be given to it. Moreover, an interpretation that gives a reasonable meaning to all parts of an instrument will be preferred to one that leaves a portion of it useless, inexplicable, inoperative, void, insignificant, meaningless, or superfluous; nor should any provision be construed as being in conflict with another, unless no reasonable interpretation is possible.

If some substantial provision of a property owner-drawn agreement is fairly susceptible of a certain construction and the contractor actually and reasonably so construes it in the course of bidding or performance, that is the interpretation that will be adopted–unless the parties’ intention is otherwise affirmatively revealed. This rule is fair to both the drafters and those who are required to accept or reject the contract so proffered without haggling. Although the potential contractor may have some duty to inquire about a major patent discrepancy, or an obvious omission, or a drastic conflict in provisions, he is not normally required (absent a clear warning in the contract) to seek clarification on any and all ambiguities, doubts, or possible differences in interpretation. The property owner, as the author, has to shoulder the major task of seeing that within the zone of reasonableness the words of the agreement communicate the proper notions–as well as the main risk of a failure to carry that responsibility. Always ensure that your construct contract is prepared by an experienced Orem Utah real estate lawyer.

Orem Utah Real Estate Attorney Free Consultation

When you need help with real property in Orem Utah, please call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506

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What Qualifies You For Alimony?

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What Qualifies You For Alimony?

Alimony is money
that one spouse pays to the other for support during the divorce process or for
some period of time following a final divorce. Courts generally require the
higher earner whether that is the husband or the wife to assist the lower
earner in maintaining the marital lifestyle for at least some period of time
following a divorce.

Types of Alimony

• Temporary
  Alimony: Courts often award temporary alimony also known as alimony
  “pendente lite,” meaning while the divorce is pending, when one
  spouse requires financial support during the divorce process. This type of
  award automatically ends once the divorce becomes final.
• Bridge-The-Gap
  Alimony: Bridge-the-gap alimony begins after the divorce is final but is
  very short term, with a maximum duration of two years. The purpose is to help
  the recipient spouse meet legitimate and identifiable short term needs. For
  example, bridge-the-gap alimony might provide living expenses while the
  recipient spouse is waiting for a house to sell, or while the recipient spouse
  is completing a retraining or educational program to allow for improved
  employment prospects.
• Rehabilitative
  Alimony: Rehabilitative alimony has the specific purpose of assisting the
  recipient in acquiring education or training necessary for appropriate
  employment. A spouse requesting rehabilitative alimony must submit a plan
  outlining the amount of money and time required to complete the plan.
• Durational
  Alimony: A court might award durational alimony if other types of alimony
  are insufficient to meet a spouse’s needs. The maximum term of durational
  alimony is the length of the marriage in other words, if you were married for
  ten years, you can’t receive durational alimony for any longer than that.
• Permanent
  Alimony: If the recipient spouse’s economic need is likely to be permanent,
  an alimony award may be permanent as well but a judge awarding permanent
  alimony must always state the reasons that another form of alimony would not be
  fair and reasonable under the facts of the case. The purpose of permanent
  alimony is to provide for the financial needs of a spouse who lacks the ability
  to become self-supporting, at a standard of living as close as possible to the
  marital standard.

Factors in Need and Ability to Pay

The court begins
making decisions on a request for alimony by considering the facts of the case
to determine whether the spouse requesting alimony meets the standard to show
the alimony is necessary. If there’s a need for alimony, the court has to also
determine whether the other spouse has the ability to pay. Unless there are
some kinds of exceptional circumstances, a court won’t award alimony if it
would leave the paying spouse with significantly less net income than the
recipient. A judge who finds both need and ability to pay next must consider
all relevant factors in deciding what type of alimony to award and for how
long. These factors include:

• the financial resources of the spouse seeking
  maintenance, including separate property and any award of marital property.
• all sources of income, including investment
  income, available to either spouse.
• each spouse’s earning capacity, educational
  history, vocational skills, and employability.
• any time and expense required by the spouse
  seeking maintenance to obtain education and training for appropriate employment.
• the marital standard of living.
• the length of the marriage.
• each spouse’s age and physical and emotional
  condition.
• each spouse’s contribution to the marriage,
  including homemaking, child care, education, and helping the other spouse build
  a career.
• any tax consequences of the alimony award, and
• the responsibilities each spouse will have for
  any minor children they have in common.

A court may also
consider whether either spouse committed adultery during the marriage, and
under what circumstances. Courts are most likely to take adultery into account
when one spouse’s affair caused the other financial harm. For example, if one
spouse bought lavish gifts for a paramour using marital funds, the court might
factor that into the alimony award.

Utah law applies
certain presumptions with regard to length of marriage and eligibility for
permanent alimony. Following a marriage of at least 17 years, a judge may award
permanent alimony if such an award is appropriate in light of the above
factors. After a marriage of between 7 and 17 years, there must be clear and
convincing evidence of appropriateness to justify the award. After a marriage
of less than 7 years, permanent alimony is appropriate only in exceptional
circumstances. A marriage lasts until the spouses actually file for
dissolution, not when they informally separate or stop living together.

Modification or Termination

Unless the
spouses have made a specific written agreement about when alimony ends or under
what circumstances it can be modified, when and how an alimony award can be
modified depends on the type of alimony.

• A bridge-the-gap award is not modifiable under
  any circumstances.
• A court might modify rehabilitative alimony if
  the recipient fails to comply with the rehabilitative plan or completes the
  plan early.
• Rehabilitative alimony, durational alimony, and
  permanent alimony are all modifiable if there has been a substantial change in
  financial circumstances for either spouse; however, except in extraordinary
  circumstances, durational alimony can only be modified in amount, not in
  duration, and even in exceptional circumstances the duration can never exceed
  the length of the marriage.

Both durational
and permanent alimony end automatically if the recipient remarries or if either
spouse dies. A court can also modify or terminate an award of permanent alimony
if the recipient lives with an unrelated person in a supportive relationship.
The spouse asking for a modification on this basis must prove the supportive
nature of a relationship. The court will find consider the following:

• the extent to which the two people in question
  have held themselves out as a married couple. for example by using the same
  last name, using a common mailing address, referring to each other as “my
  husband” or “my wife”
• the length of time they have lived together at a
  permanent address
• the extent to which they have pooled assets and
  income, or otherwise exhibited financial interdependence
• the extent of mutual support between them,
  including support for each other’s children, regardless of legal obligation
• performance of valuable services for each other,
  or for each other’s company or employer
• whether the two have worked together to create
  or enhance anything of value
• whether they have purchased property together,
  and
• evidence that the two have either an express or
  implied agreement regarding property sharing or support.

Requirements For Alimony

There are
certain requirements for Alimony, or spousal support, which is something given
to one ex-spouse by the other ex-spouse in the form of monetary support. It’s
meant to provide the spouse that doesn’t make as much money with the money for
living expenses over and above what is also provided by the higher income spouse
in the amount of child support, if child support is provided. A judge will
determine how much if any money is going to be provided by one spouse to the
other.

 Several factors go into play as the judge
makes his or her determination.

• State regulations vary, but essentially, they
  take into account how much the spouse receiving the money is able to earn, both
  now and in future, the receiving spouse’s health and age, how long the marriage
  was, what property is involved, and how the parties have conducted themselves.
• A judge may not award alimony at all, and in
  fact will usually only award it when one spouse has been dependent economically
  on the other spouse for most of the marriage, usually a longer marriage.
• Payments must be in cash, and are acceptable in
  a check or money order, but can’t be given in the form of debt, services or
  property.
• Any payments must be set forth in a written
  agreement or within divorce papers. It must be formal, such that you cannot
  call what you’ve been paying informally in terms of support to your ex-spouse
  anything else.

If you file a
joint tax return with your ex-spouse, you can’t claim alimony as a tax
deduction for that year. You and your ex-spouse can’t live together and call
any support you pay alimony. And even live in separate quarters within the same
residence, by the way. You must have separate quarters under different routes. When
the marriage ends, many women look to cash in that insurance policy in the form
of alimony. There are always things men can do to reduce or even eliminate
alimony.

You can win
alimony battles if you use a proven strategy and know how the game is played;
often without going to court. With a good strategy, it’s possible to negotiate
your alimony down to zero!

A spouse may
have to pay spousal support if such payment meets one or more of the main
purposes of spousal support set out in the Divorce Act. They are:

• To compensate a spouse who sacrifices his or her
  ability to earn income during the marriage;
• To compensate a spouse for the ongoing care of
  children, over and above any child support obligation; or,
• To help a spouse in financial need arising from
  the breakdown of the marriage.

At the same
time, spouses who receive support have an obligation to become self-supporting
where reasonable. When a married couple divorces, either spouse can ask for
spousal support under the Divorce Act. In most cases, spousal support is
requested by the spouse with the lower income. In each case, a judge must
consider several factors to determine if spousal support should be paid,
including:

• The financial means, needs and circumstances of
  both spouses;
• The length of time the spouses have lived
  together;
• The roles of each spouse during their marriage;
• The effect of those roles and the breakdown of
  the marriage on both spouses’ current financial positions;
• The ongoing responsibilities for care of the
  children, if any;
• Any previous orders, agreements or arrangements
  already made about spousal support.

When ordering
spousal support, the courts will apply either the Divorce Act, which is a
federal Act, or the Family Law Act, which is specific. The objectives of each
act are similar, and include:

• Identifying financial advantages and
  disadvantages faced by the spouses that occur because of the end of the
  marriage or partnership.
• Fairly dividing financial costs relating to
  child care, above and beyond child support.
• Providing as much support as possible to help
  each spouse to become financially independent within a reasonable amount of
  time.

These Acts state
that spousal support should not be a factor in awarding spousal support. The
payment of support is not intended to be a form of punishment. When the courts
determine if spousal support is appropriate to order, they take into account
several factors. For example, these factors include:

• The amount of time the couple lived together;
• The responsibilities of each partner during this
  time; and lastly
• Any previous agreements or arrangements the
  parties agree to regard support.

The above
factors are taken into account in all cases. If the couple is not applying for
spousal support as part of a divorce, such as when applying after the end of an
Adult Interdependent Relationship, the Family Law Act will apply. In that case,
the court takes into account the following additional factors into
consideration when making a ruling:

• Whether or not either partner has a legal
  obligation to support another person, including children; and
• If either partner is going to be living with
  someone else, or how this other person contributes to their living expenses.
  The court looks at how this arrangement increases the partner’s ability to pay
  support, or decreases their need for spouse support.

Child Support

Both the Divorce
Act and the Family Law Act give child support a higher priority than spousal
support. If a spouse cannot afford to pay both, it is the spousal support
amount that the courts decrease. At the same time, child support is not a
replacement for spouse support.

Alimony Attorney Free Consultation

When you need help with alimony or spousal support in Utah, please call Ascent Law at (801) 676-5506 for your Free Consultation. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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Pour Over Will

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Source: https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/what-qualifies-you-for-alimony/