HB18, sponsored by Rep. Julie Fisher, R-Fruit Heights, offers noncustodial parents an alternative to having child support withheld from their paychecks.

Parents can instead file a written agreement describing their plan for paying support, such as making regular deposits to the custodial parent's bank account. Or, the state Office of Recovery Services can make deductions from a paying parent's account.

Catherine Taylor, the office's legislative liaison, described the new process as a "friendly way" to meet support obligations. Some parents had asked to leave their employers out of the equation, she said.

In addition to giving parents some privacy, the law protects the family that is owed child support, Taylor said. If a payment is delayed because of insufficient funds in an account, the paying parent will return to income withholding by the employer and will not be allowed to try the alternative again for a year.

Avoiding abductions

SB35, the Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act, helps judges determine when a child is at risk for abduction to another state or country - and outlines steps they can take to prevent it.

Judges can consider whether a suspected parent has made threats to take a child; has begun liquidating assets or cutting ties to Utah, for example quitting work or selling a home; has begun gathering documents relating to the child, such as a birth certificate and medical records; and whether the parent has applied for a visa for the child.

Among other measures, an abduction-prevention order can limit or ban travel with a child; require supervised visitation; or demand a bond be posted or a child's passport be surrendered.

A judge also can issue a warrant allowing a petitioning parent to get or retain physical custody, but a parent must have significant evidence for that drastic step, said Stewart Ralphs, director of the Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake City.

"You just don't go in and get these on a whim," he said.

The law provides due process by giving the other parent the opportunity to be heard in court, usually within a day, Ralphs said. It is based on a model code, designed to bring consistency to how states handle custody disputes.

Life-and-death decisions

And under the provisions of SB75, Utahns will have more control over what happens when they experience a medical emergency or face end-of-life decisions.

The new law allows residents to fill out a single form to designate who makes decisions when they are unable to, what medical treatment they want and when care should be withdrawn, according to Maureen Henry, director of the Utah Commission on Aging.

The new law does not invalidate existing living wills, noted Mark Fotheringham, spokesman for the Utah Medical Association.

"Older forms are still valid," he said. "The new forms do make it a little bit clearer to those who are providing care what your wishes are."

The exact form described in Utah's new medical-directive law has some confusing wording, and a slightly revised version will be proposed during the upcoming 2008 legislative session, according to the Utah Commission on Aging.

But in the meantime, the revised version - which incorporates the new law's provisions - is available on the commission's Web site at http://aging.utah.edu/utah coa/index.html, under "directives."

Printed instruction booklets, including forms, will be available in January at the Utah Medical Association at 310 E. 4500 South, Suite 500, in Salt Lake City.