Roy is six miles southwest of Ogden, abutting Hill Air Force on the east and the town of Hooper on the west. Roy was settled in 1873; twenty-five years after Ogden, and most of the surrounding communities had been settled prior to that time. No one really wanted this dry, sandy land. Yet, eventually a trickling of settlers came and endured harsh conditions to tear a living from the resistant soil. The only fuel available for heat and cooking was the tamped sagebrush. The thorns of growing cacti were cut off and the plants were then fed to the animals. William Evans Baker made the decision to settle this land. Many asked “Why?” Baker, then living in a green, water-fed place, later named “Hooper,” said only that he wanted “to see what he could make of it.”
He eventually persuaded three of his brothers-in-law to test the existence of his choice. One was Henry Field, who followed William Baker to the area six months later. The other two brothers-in-law were Justin Grover and Richard Jones. There was also one ox and one horse belonging to William Baker. The four men measured off the land for what they hoped would be a permanent settlement. They laid out four streets in an east to west orientation and three streets north to south. These are still the main arteries used today. Years later, when the area was officially surveyed, there was found to be very little error in the original measurement. The road near Roy’s south boundary was affectionately known as “Cousin Street,” until 23 July 1957, because all the residents on the road were cousins. This was the area where the four brothers-in-law originally settled. A well was dug fifty feet deep by installing open barrels in the ground as it was dug to keep the loose sand from caving in. The meager water available was colored and brackish. The settlers trudged each day to Muskrat Springs in Hooper for acceptable water to satisfy their personal needs and to provide for the animals they owned. This procedure continued until 1882 when the settlers realized that if this place were to grow, they needed to find better water sources. An idea was born. Walking up to sixteen miles up Weber Canyon, the settlers–men, women, and children–dug a canal by hand to bring water from the nearby mountains. The canal was lined with rocks that the women and children amassed as the route was cleared. The canal was surveyed and leveled by simple but effective means, and, when it was finished, the water scuttled through the rows the settlers had made. Prospects for the town were at once improved. Twenty-one years after Roy’s first settlement, the town’s few residents met to start the wheels of progress turning by obtaining a post office. The first requirement was the selection of a permanent name for the town. Roy had been called Central City, Sandridge, the Basin, and Lakeview. One member of the group, Reverend David Peebles, a schoolteacher, recently had lost a child to death, a young boy named Roy.
Peebles exerted pressure to have the town named after his son, and the local citizens were sympathetic to his plea. On 24 May 1894 Roy officially had a name and a post office. Orson Field was appointed as the first postmaster. The post office consisted of a few slots built in the corner of the kitchen in Field’s home. In the early 1940s, with the establishment nearby of Hill Field, the town was suddenly transformed. New settlers formed a stream and then a river. Almost overnight, Roy, swelling with a flood of newcomers, was faced with greatly inadequate services, facilities, and accommodations. Nothing seemed as urgent as educating the ever-flourishing crop of students. In 1943, the one school building in the community was filled beyond capacity. Classes were held in the halls, on the stage, and in the church house, and even the small supply room was used. The local school board and the town leaders scrambled to house the students. High school students were bused across Ogden to the north end of Washington Boulevard, a procedure practiced until 1965 when Roy high School was built. It became Weber County’s largest high school and was later rated as one of the ten best in the nation. Businesses in Roy were limited until the early 1940s. With a population of 800, a gas station, a couple of grocery stores, a cafe, and a lumber yard made up the modest business district. That changed in 1943. Roy developed rapidly during the war years; stores and offices of all kinds began to appear. Roy housed many of the workers and personnel from adjacent war bases: Hill Air Force Base, the Navy Supply Depot, and the Defense Supply Depot. September 1953 marked a milestone in Roy’s history–Roy received a charter to establish the first branch bank in the state of Utah. This branch of the Bank of Utah pioneered the way for other banks to establish branches throughout the state. Today, Roy boasts of most types of businesses and services. Roy is a first-class city, tagged “Weber County’s Fastest Growing City,” with a population of 24,603 in 1990. There are sewer, gas, and electrical systems and three water systems: the canal, a culinary water system, and a secondary water system. A large museum was built in 1993 and contains memorabilia of Roy City to preserve for others something of Roy’s past.
Roy Utah Divorce
Divorce, or “dissolution of marriage,” is the legal termination of the marital relationship. The divorce process is handled by family law attorneys (each estranged spouse retains his or her own counsel) and involves a number of issues, ranging from division of property to child custody. While it’s important to hire a lawyer who is skilled at your economic and other interests in a divorce, it is crucial to find an attorney with whom you feel comfortable on a personal level. Divorce is an intensely emotional process, requiring delicate people skills in addition to legal know-now. It may make sense to complete a divorce without hiring a lawyer in some limited cases, as long as neither party has representation and there are no minor children involved. But most divorces, particularly those involving dependent children and/or complicated property issues, go more favorably with the counsel of a divorce attorney. And if your estranged spouse has an attorney, it’s always wise to hire one yourself.
Terms to Know
• Custody: Having rights to your child. Custody can be either legal, which means that you have the right to make important decisions about your child’s welfare, or physical, which means that the child lives with and is raised by you.
• Prenuptial agreement: An agreement made between a man and a woman before marrying in which they give up future rights to each other’s property in the event of a divorce or death.
• Stipulation: An agreement entered into by the divorcing spouses that settles the issues between them and is often entered into the court’s final order or judgment and decree.
Issues Involved in a Divorce
At its most basic, a divorce is a legal process by which two parties terminate their legal and financial relationship. But each divorce is unique and most involve disputes over things like child custody or division of property.
• Division of Property: All property acquired by either spouse after the marriage date is considered “marital property” and is subject to equitable division.
• Alimony: Alimony, or spousal support, is monthly payment made by one spouse to another in accordance to either a settlement agreement or court order. Alimony is meant to correct for any unfair economic effects of a divorce.
• Child Support: Child support is a monthly payment made by the noncustodial parent to the custodial parent to be spent on the child’s needs.
• Child Custody: When a family splits up, the parents and the court must decide what is best for the minor children, including where they will live and how decisions are made. This is often the most difficult part of the divorce proceedings.
Documents to Show Your Divorce Attorney
Divorce is complicated – legally, financially, and emotionally. Dividing up property a couple has acquired throughout their marriage (also known as marital property) can be one of the most contentious aspects of divorce. Luckily, divorce attorneys can help alleviate some of your legal and financial stresses by advocating for a division of property that works in your favor. If you’ve decided to retain legal counsel you can help save your divorce attorney time (and save yourself some money) by gathering important legal and financial documents together before the initial consultation. Doing this ahead of time gives your attorney an immediate and useful overview of the property and assets likely to be at issue in your case. Most importantly, it allows the two of you to work together to secure your short and long-term interests. The following is a list of documents to show your divorce attorney, however keep in mind that everyone’s case is unique and may require additional documentation.
Documents to Show Your Divorce Attorney:
• Individual income tax returns for past three to five years (federal, state, and local)
• Business income tax returns for past three to five years (federal, state, and local)
• Proof of your current income
• Proof of spouse’s current income
• Prenuptial agreement
• Separation agreement
• Bank statements
• Certificates of deposit
• Pension statements
• Retirement account statements
• Trusts
• Stock portfolios
• Stock options
• Mortgages
• Property tax statements
• Credit card statements
• Loan documents
• Utility bills
• Other bills (e.g., school tuition, unreimbursed medical bills, music lessons for children, etc.)
• Monthly budget worksheet
• Completed financial statements
• Employment contracts
• Benefits statement
• Life insurance policies
• Health insurance policies
• Homeowner’s insurance policies
• Automobile insurance policies
• Personal property appraisals
• Real property appraisals
• List of personal property, including home furnishings, jewelry, artwork, computers, home office equipment, clothing and furs, etc.
• List of property owned by each spouse prior to marriage
• List of property acquired by each spouse individually by gift or inheritance during the marriage
• List of contents of safety deposit boxes
• Wills
• Living Wills
As you can see, the above list extensive — yet, it is not exhaustive. Every divorce is different since every couple enters and leaves a marriage under different circumstances and with different assets. Therefore, to ensure no property is overlooked, it is always a good idea to have an open and frank conversation with your attorney regarding all of the property and assets relevant to your case.
Starting the Divorce Process
If you’re just starting the divorce process or planning to do so, you may feel overwhelmed by all of the steps required. If you also have children, the process can be much more emotionally draining. After determining which documents to show your divorce attorney at that first consultation, you’ll want to find the right attorney. But just because a lawyer has a lot of experience and great credentials doesn’t mean they’re necessarily the right fit, since style and personalities vary widely. If you need legal counsel, find an experienced divorce attorney near you today. To get a divorce, you have to meet some minimum state requirements. The most common are the following:
• Residing in your state for a specific length of time. A handful of states have no residency requirement your obvious destination for a “quickie divorce” but most states require that one or both of you be a resident for a minimum amount of time before you can either file a petition for divorce or before your divorce can be granted. Six months is the most common residency requirement, but it may be weeks, months, or even a year, depending on your state.
• Getting divorced in the state where you live. That is, you must get divorced in the state you call your permanent home and not in the state where you got married.
• Being separated. Some states require that before you can be divorced you must live apart from your spouse for a certain length of time. The theory behind this requirement is that, with enough time, you and your spouse may have a change of heart and reconcile.
You and your spouse have to decide on a number of fundamental issues before your divorce is final. (If you get a legal separation before you divorce, you still have to work out these same issues.) Your decisions must include the following:
• How will your marital property and debts be divided? Complex laws — including state property laws and federal tax laws, plus numerous interpretations of those laws — can make deciding who gets what a complicated undertaking, especially if you and your spouse have managed to amass a considerable amount of assets.
• Will one of you pay spousal support or alimony to the other? If so, how much will the payments be and for how long will they continue?
• If there are minor children from your marriage, how will custody, visitation, and child support be handled? This issue can be one of the most emotional in a divorce. Some spouses fear that if they don’t get custody, they will no longer play a meaningful role in the lives of their children; others may view fighting for the kids as a way to get back at their spouses.
Responding to a federal government mandate, all states have guidelines for determining the minimum amount of child support that should be paid in a divorce. If you and your spouse can work together to resolve these issues, your divorce can be relatively quick and inexpensive. However, if you can’t resolve it between the two of you, or if your divorce has complicating factors (your marital property or debt is substantial, for example) ending your marriage can take time and money. In a worst-case scenario, you must look to the courts for help. The divorce laws and guidelines of your state provide a framework and set boundaries for resolving the basic issues that must be decided before your marriage can be ended. In other words, those laws and guidelines are actually quite flexible, within certain limits:
• As you work your way through the divorce process, you and your spouse have a considerable amount of leeway when you decide on most of those issues, as long as you are both in agreement.
• As you address the division of your marital property, spousal support, and child custody and visitation, assume that a family law judge is looking over your shoulder. This means that whatever you decide about those matters should be fair to you both, given the laws of your state, and your decisions should reflect an appreciation of what the judge would probably decide if your divorce were to end in a trial.
• Among other factors, local norms and cultural values can influence the outcome of a divorce. A judge in a more socially conservative part of a state may decide the same issue alimony or which parent gets custody, for example quite differently than a judge in a more socially liberal part of that same state (and vice versa).
Free Initial Consultation with Lawyer
It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. Legal problems come to everyone. Whether it’s your son who gets in a car wreck, your uncle who loses his job and needs to file for bankruptcy, your sister’s brother who’s getting divorced, or a grandparent that passes away without a will -all of us have legal issues and questions that arise. So when you have a law question, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you!
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
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