Normally all children should have "frequent, meaningful, and continuing access to each parent following separation or divorce." Utah Code Ann. Section 30-3-32(2)(a). In an effort to insure that such access occurs in all divorces, the Utah legislature has published a set of advisory guidelines specifying what should be considered as the minimum visitation the non-custodial parent should have with his or her minor children. See Utah Code Ann. Sections 30-3-33, 30-3-35, and 30-3-35.5.

The legislature mandates that the statutory visitation schedule is the visitation that is presumed to be appropriate in all cases and is in the best interest of all children. However, if either parent establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that it would not be in the best interest of the children to implement the legislature's visitation schedule, then the court can order a different schedule.

There are actually two different visitation schedules in Utah. One schedule applies to visitation with children ages five (5) through eighteen (18). The other schedule is for visitation with children younger than age five (5).

Prior to 1997 Utah did not have any statutory guidelines for visitation with children younger than five (5) years of age. Instead each judge was required to fashion his own visitation schedule for young children. During its 1997 General Session the Utah Legislature enacted Section 30-3-35.5 of the Utah Code. This new statute establishes a recommended visitation schedule for children under five (5) years of age.

The 1997 amendments also inexplicably eliminated New Year's Eve and New Year's Day visitation from the recommended schedule for older children and inserted an explicit requirement that telephone contact with children be for a reasonable duration.