Nebeker v. Orton, 438 P.3d 1053

Child born December 2013 to Shane Nebeker (Father) and Trisha Orton (Mother); parents lived ~105 miles apart and each had histories of drug use and prior relationships.
Father had minimal contact and no financial support for the first 18 months; in May 2015 Father took Child from Mother without her consent and kept him for several months.
Mother later entered treatment, became sober, and by January 2016 parties agreed to an informal custody schedule (approximately 10/28 days with Mother, remainder with Father) that lasted ~10 months before trial.
Father filed a parentage petition seeking sole custody in October 2015; a two-day bench trial was held in Oct–Nov 2016.
District court found both parents fit and bonded with Child but concluded Mother was the primary caregiver, more likely to allow continuing contact, and had a more accommodating work schedule; it awarded joint legal custody, Mother primary physical custody, and only statutory-minimum parent-time to Father while stating Father should have "liberal and meaningful" time.
On appeal the court affirmed the primary-custody award but reversed the minimum parent-time award and remanded for further findings regarding increased parent-time.

Issue	Father's Argument	Mother's Argument	Held
Whether district court's factual findings were supported by evidence	Findings unsupported; evidence compels different outcome	Findings supported by record and permissible weighing	Affirmed: findings not clearly erroneous given deference and supporting evidence
Whether court could depart from the informal custody arrangement	Court needed a compelling reason to disrupt a stable, thriving informal arrangement	Changed circumstances (Child starting school; distance) justified departing from temporary plan	Affirmed: departure was within discretion because school/start of education and distance created changed circumstances
Whether Mother should be primary physical custodian	Father argued he had been acting as primary custodian during pendency and Davis supports weight to recent primary care	Mother shown to have been primary caregiver for majority of Child's life; Father gained custody by wrongful self-help	Affirmed: Mother was primary caregiver and better suited given bonding and schedules
Whether awarding Father only statutory-minimum parent-time was justified	Father argued evidence supported more than minimum time (bond, flourishing in both homes, Mother's testimony supporting equal time)	Mother agreed non-primary should have substantial time but distanced residence limits equal split	Reversed: court erred by awarding only minimum parent-time without statutory findings; remanded for specific reasons and possible increased time

Lake Philgas Service v. Valley Bank & Trust Co., 845 P.2d 951 (Utah Ct. App. 1993) (standard for viewing evidence on appeal from bench trial)
Kimball v. Kimball, 217 P.3d 733 (Utah Ct. App. 2009) (deference to trial court factual findings; marshaling requirement)
Bond v. Bond, 420 P.3d 53 (Utah Ct. App. 2018) (conflicting evidence alone insufficient to overturn findings)
Taft v. Taft, 379 P.3d 890 (Utah Ct. App. 2016) (marshaling evidence required to overturn factual findings)
State v. Nielsen, 326 P.3d 645 (Utah 2014) (appellate standard on marshaling and burden to show legal problem with evidence)
Shuman v. Shuman, 406 P.3d 258 (Utah Ct. App. 2017) (refusal to reweigh evidence on appeal)
Hudema v. Carpenter, 989 P.2d 491 (Utah Ct. App. 1999) (continuity of placement and when stability weighs heavily)
Elmer v. Elmer, 776 P.2d 599 (Utah 1989) (length of custody arrangement and weight for continuity)
Davis v. Davis, 749 P.2d 647 (Utah 1988) (primary caregiver status and caution against rewarding wrongful acquisition of custody)
Pingree v. Pingree, 365 P.3d 713 (Utah Ct. App. 2015) (clarifying Hudema and change-in-circumstances premise)
Fullmer v. Fullmer, 761 P.2d 942 (Utah Ct. App. 1988) (limitations on relying on daycare/work schedule alone to change custody)
K.P.S. v. E.J.P., 414 P.3d 933 (Utah Ct. App. 2018) (abuse-of-discretion standard for custody determinations)
Gillmor v. Wright, 850 P.2d 431 (Utah 1993) (judgment must follow findings of fact)