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How to Modify Child Custody in Utah

Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Utah · Last updated October 7, 2026

Almost every Utah guide to this subject written before September 2024 cites a statute number that no longer exists. Modifying child custody in Utah means asking the district court that entered your existing custody or parent-time order to change it because something significant has shifted since that order was signed. The law was renumbered wholesale: old Title 30, Chapter 3 became Title 81, the Utah Domestic Relations Code, effective September 1, 2024 under Laws of Utah 2024, Chapter 366. Modification now sits at Utah Code 81-9-208 and relocation notice at 81-9-209. Repealed 30-3-10.4 and 30-3-37 remain in wide circulation, including as a sidebar link on the state judiciary's own relocation page. Two features of 81-9-208 carry the rest of this page. Utah imposes no waiting period at all, because subsection (1) gives the district court continuing jurisdiction with no minimum interval since your last order, and Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 106 adds none. But the threshold splits by what you are asking to change: subsection (1)(a) requires a substantial and material change in circumstances to move custody, while subsection (1)(b) requires only a change in circumstances to move parent-time. Those are consecutive clauses carrying different weights. On moving, 81-9-209 defines relocation as moving 150 miles or more from the residence of the other parent, and requires written notice to that parent at least 60 days before the intended move date. You file Form 1130FA in the same district court case, pay the $100 fee set by Utah Code 78A-2-301(1)(q), and serve a summons under Rule 4. Attorney review of your filing is available through DocDraft.

Find out where you stand in Utah

What is prompting the change to your custody order?

DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.

Which Utah statute governs changing a custody order?

Utah Code 81-9-208. Utah recodified its domestic relations law from Title 30 into Title 81 effective September 1, 2024, under Laws of Utah 2024, Chapter 366. Modification moved from repealed 30-3-10.4 to 81-9-208, and relocation notice from repealed 30-3-37 to 81-9-209.

Is there a waiting period to modify custody in Utah?

No. Utah Code 81-9-208(1) gives the district court continuing jurisdiction to change custody and parent-time with no minimum interval after the last order, and Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 106 sets no waiting period either. The hurdle is the change you can prove, not elapsed time.

How much notice must a Utah parent give before moving with a child?

At least 60 days of written notice to the other parent, under Utah Code 81-9-209(2). The duty is triggered by a move of 150 miles or more measured from the residence of the other parent. Under 81-9-209(20) a parent who skips that notice is in contempt.

Is the standard different for custody and parent-time in Utah?

Yes. Utah Code 81-9-208(1)(a) requires a substantial and material change in circumstances to modify custody. Subsection (1)(b) requires only a showing that there is a change in circumstances to modify parent-time, dropping the words substantial and material from the adjacent clause.

Utah custody modification at a glance

Changing child custody in Utah means asking the district court that entered your existing custody or parent-time order to change it because something significant has shifted since then. Utah is unusual twice over. First, the governing law was renumbered in full: Title 30, Chapter 3 became Title 81, Chapter 9, effective September 1, 2024, so modification is 81-9-208 and relocation notice is 81-9-209. Second, 81-9-208(1) grades the two kinds of relief differently. Moving custody takes a substantial and material change in circumstances. Moving parent-time takes only a change in circumstances. There is no waiting period in either case. Since May 6, 2026, subsection (3) also makes a child turning five a qualifying change for any order entered on or after that date, unless the order already addresses the fifth birthday.

A fifth birthday as the change in circumstances

A fifth birthday is the whole case here. Say a Utah order from July 2026 set a parent-time schedule for a four year old and said nothing about what happens when she turns five, and she turns five next month. Utah Code 81-9-208(3)(b), added effective May 6, 2026, says that for a parent-time order entered on or after that date a child turning five constitutes a change in circumstances under subsection (1)(b), unless the order addresses the fifth birthday. Yours does not. So you can file to move from the under five schedule in 81-9-304 to the five to eighteen schedule in 81-9-302 without waiting and without arguing that anything else went wrong. Had you asked to change custody rather than the schedule, subsection (3)(a) would route you to the heavier substantial and material test. Attorney review of your filing is available through DocDraft.

Relevant Laws

Utah Code 81-9-208 (modification of a custody or parent-time order)

Gives the district court continuing jurisdiction to modify custody on a showing of a substantial and material change in circumstances since entry of the order, and parent-time on a showing of a change in circumstances. Subsection (3) treats a child turning five as a qualifying change for orders entered on or after May 6, 2026. Subsection (4) adds a verified petition and dispute resolution condition for joint custody orders.

Utah Code 81-9-209 (notice of relocation)

Defines relocation as moving 150 miles or more from the residence of the other parent, requires written notice to that parent at least 60 days before the intended move, lets any party or the court set a review hearing, permits a change of custody where the court finds the move is not in the child's best interest, and makes noncompliance with the notice contempt.

Utah Code 81-9-204 (custody factors and the child's wishes)

Lists the best interest factors the court weighs, including the stated wishes and concerns of the child measured against cognitive ability and emotional maturity, and provides that the desires of a child 14 years old or older shall be given added weight without being the single controlling factor.

Utah Code 78A-2-301 (civil filing fees of the courts of record)

Subsection (1)(q) sets the fee for filing a petition or counter-petition to modify a domestic relations order other than a protective order or stalking injunction at $100. The Utah Courts published filing fee schedule lists the same figure against the same subsection.

Utah Courts self-help: Modifying Custody

The state judiciary's own guide to the process, naming Form 1130FA Petition to Modify Child Custody, Parent-time and Child Support, the companion summons and disclosure forms, the 120 day service window, the 21 or 30 day answer period, and the case management conference that follows an answer.

Regional Variances

Utah custody modification levers at a glance

Waiting period before you may file

None. Utah Code 81-9-208(1) gives the district court continuing jurisdiction with no minimum interval since the last order, and Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 106 imposes none. A scan of all thirteen sections of Title 81, Chapter 9, Parts 1 and 2 returns zero hits for waiting period, one year, six months and no sooner than. The only two year figure in the chapter is 81-9-208(13), the deadline for completing court ordered make-up parent-time, which runs forward against the court's own remedy.

Standard to change the order

Split by relief, in consecutive clauses. Custody takes a substantial and material change in circumstances since entry of the order under 81-9-208(1)(a). Parent-time takes only a change in circumstances under 81-9-208(1)(b). Two statutory shortcuts exist: 81-9-208(2) treats cohabitation with a known registered offender as a substantial and material change, and 81-9-208(3) treats a child turning five as a qualifying change for orders entered on or after May 6, 2026.

Relocation notice and trigger

Sixty days of advance written notice to the other parent under 81-9-209(2), triggered by a move of 150 miles or more measured from the residence of the other parent under 81-9-209(1). The notice must carry the two affirmations in subsection (3). There is no county tier, no school district test and no duration element, and the chapter contains exactly one mileage figure.

Relocation mechanism

Notice to the parent, then objection by motion, with no deadline attached. The notice is not filed with the court and no consent or signature is required. Under 81-9-209(4) a review hearing happens on a motion of any party or the court's own motion, and Utah Courts names the instrument a Motion for Orders Regarding Relocation. Rule 106(a) carves relocation out of the petition requirement, so it travels by motion.

Consequences of moving

Three. Failure to give the 60 day notice is contempt under 81-9-209(20). If the court finds the move is not in the child's best interest and the custodial parent relocates, the court may order a change of custody under 81-9-209(6). On relocation the minimum parent-time schedule in 81-9-209(9) applies unless the court orders otherwise, and under 81-9-209(17) the relocating party generally carries the travel costs.

Court

The District Court of Utah, in the judicial district and county that entered the order, filed under the same case number. Utah Code 78A-5-102(1) gives the district court original jurisdiction in all civil matters, and 81-1-204(4) confirms continuing jurisdiction over custody and parent-time. Utah Courts notes that parents usually file in district court even where a juvenile court issued the order.

Forms

Form 1130FA, Petition to Modify Child Custody, Parent-time and Child Support, approved December 16, 2019 and revised September 1, 2025, is the charging document. Companions include summons forms 1015FA and 1016FA, non-public information forms 1051GE and 1052GEJ, disclosure notice 1905FA, findings 1132FA and order 1133FA.

Filing fee

$100 statewide under Utah Code 78A-2-301(1)(q) for a petition or counter-petition to modify a domestic relations order other than a protective order or stalking injunction. The Utah Courts published filing fee schedule carries the same figure against the same subsection, so the statute and the court schedule agree. A fee waiver is available.

Procedural screen

No adequate cause screen; that phrase returns zero hits across the chapter. What exists is keyed to the order being changed rather than to the relief sought. For an order that established joint legal or joint physical custody, 81-9-208(4) requires a verified petition or affidavit, a showing that the change would be an improvement, and good faith use of the parenting plan's dispute resolution procedure first.

Child's wishes

Age 14 under Utah Code 81-9-204(5)(b)(ii), and what it triggers is added weight rather than control: the desires of a child 14 or older shall be given added weight but are not the single controlling factor. Below 14 the court may still inquire. Subsection (5)(a) bars either party from requiring a child to testify absent extenuating circumstances.

Suggested Compliance Checklist

Re-check your statute numbers against Title 81

Before you draft anything days after starting

Confirm you are working from Utah Code 81-9-208 and 81-9-209, not repealed 30-3-10.4 and 30-3-37. Title 81 took effect on September 1, 2024, and older guides, forms and even one sidebar link on the Utah Courts relocation page still point at the old numbering.

Name the relief and the matching threshold

Before you file days after starting

Write down whether you are asking to change custody, parent-time, or both. Custody carries the substantial and material change test in 81-9-208(1)(a). Parent-time carries the lighter change in circumstances test in 81-9-208(1)(b). Mismatching these invites the heavier burden for no reason.

Date the facts that changed since entry of the order

Before you file days after starting

Gather dated proof of what shifted since the order was entered: school records, work schedules, messages, medical notes, the child's age on a given date. Both thresholds in 81-9-208(1) run from entry of the order, so anything predating it does not count. Attorney review is available through DocDraft.

Run the parenting plan dispute resolution step

Before filing, if the order granted joint custody days after starting

Find the dispute resolution procedure in your parenting plan and use it in good faith. Utah Code 81-9-208(4)(c) conditions relief on that, and 81-9-205(8) requires the plan to contain such a procedure for use before seeking modification through litigation. Keep dated records of the attempt.

Serve the 60 day relocation notice

At least 60 days before any intended move of 150 miles or more days after starting

If the move is 150 miles or more from the other parent's residence, send that parent written notice at least 60 days before the intended move date, including the affirmations required by 81-9-209(3). Skipping this notice is contempt of the court's order under 81-9-209(20).

Complete and verify Form 1130FA

Once your evidence is assembled days after starting

Fill out the Utah Courts Petition to Modify Child Custody, Parent-time and Child Support, form 1130FA. For a joint custody order, 81-9-208(4)(a) wants a verified petition or accompanying affidavit alleging that admissible evidence will show the change, so sign the verification and state facts.

File in the issuing district court and pay the fee

As soon as the petition is verified days after starting

File into the district court and case number that produced the order, with the companion summons and disclosure forms the Utah Courts page lists. The fee is $100 under Utah Code 78A-2-301(1)(q). Ask the judge for a fee waiver if you cannot afford it.

Serve the summons under Rule 4 and file proof

Within 120 days of filing the petition days after starting

Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 106(a) requires service of the petition and a summons under Rule 4, which is formal service of process rather than ordinary motion service. File proof once served. The other side then has 21 days in state or 30 days out of state to answer.

Keep following the existing order until a judge signs a new one

Until the modified order is entered days after starting

Rule 106(b)(1) says the order you are trying to change stays in effect while the petition is pending, although the court may make a modification retroactive to the date the petition was served. Departing from the order on your own is an enforcement problem, not a modification.

Frequently Asked Questions

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