Two years after ‘Om’s Law,’ supporters hope to build on family court reform

Leah Moses and her son, Om Moses Gandhi, in an undated photo. Om, 16, was shot and killed by his father in 2023, according to Salt Lake City police. (Photo courtesy of Leah Moses)

When she was fighting for custody of her children and trying to show the court her ex-husband was abusive, Leah Moses had no precise way to describe the layers of manipulation: violence, surveillance, financial control and isolation, to name a few. 

She later learned of a label for such a pattern of intimidation and abuse.

“I think the definition of ‘coercive control’ might have given me more confidence — to know that I’m not only in a category, but there’s a definition for what I’m experiencing,” Moses said. 

She began pushing for change at the state Capitol before her ex-husband killed their 16-year-old son Om Moses Gandhi three years ago. After his death, Utah enacted a new mandate for the courts. Under “Om’s Law,” they must put child safety first in custody decisions. 

Moses said her son’s name means peace, and he embodied inner calm. He loved playing the saxophone, but also spent time wondering when he would get a chance to be heard in the custody case, she said. On Mother’s Day weekend in 2023, during court-ordered parent time, his father Parth Gandhi shot and killed him, then turned the gun on himself, police said.

Moses is back at the state Capitol this year, helping to craft a new bill that places coercive control atop a list of considerations for judges in family court. The measure also defines the term to help them better recognize the pattern of behaviors that include psychological intimidation.

Rep. Paul Cutler, sponsor of this year’s HB303, said judges and commissioners in northern Utah’s 2nd District Court told him “thank you for adding this,” saying it would help them call out the behavior in the cases before them. 

“We’re trying to take feedback from everybody and improve the process for domestic violence survivors and improve the justice system,” said Cutler, a Centerville Republican who also sponsored the 2024 reform law.  

The new measure follows others across the country. California and Hawaii passed coercive control laws in recent years, and several more states are considering similar moves. 

The Utah Domestic Violence Coalition is on board, but cautious.

“When we define this stuff, we have to be so careful, because abusers who have good attorneys are like, ‘well, she’s the one with the pattern of coercive control over me,’” said Erin Jemison, the coalition’s director of public policy. “There’s just no way to make a perfect law or a perfect system in these situations.”

The proposal deals with court-appointed custody evaluators — usually therapists — who assess children’s needs and parents’ ability to meet them, then make recommendations for custody arrangements. 

Either parent can request a review from a particular evaluator. One or both parties bear the cost, which usually adds up to several thousand dollars. 

The experts are required to be objective, but some have been accused of bias.

“I think there is clearly a cottage industry with custody evaluators,” said Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, the bill’s floor sponsor. “I am increasingly concerned that one attorney can use the same custody evaluator over and over and over.”

The bill doesn’t prohibit that from happening, but it does require the experts to disclose any conflicts of interest. It also emphasizes their findings do not carry “presumptive weight,” but are one of many factors the judge can take into account, among other changes. 

One of McKell’s colleagues from his day job as a personal injury attorney has also advocated for change based on her own experience with the family court system.

The Association of Family And Conciliation Courts, a national organization and a primary training source for custody evaluators, didn’t respond to a request for comment from Utah News Dispatch. A representative for its Utah chapter also declined comment.

Moses has described how the more she tried to protect her children, the more a custody evaluator who did not understand the dynamics of domestic violence found fault with her. She said some in the profession “have gone so far as to really cause a lot of damage for children and families.”

Lawmakers passed Om’s Law in 2024 after tearful pleading from Utah mothers, who said they raised evidence of physical and sexual abuse by their ex-husbands. To the moms’ surprise, they faced losing custody when the fathers shot back with allegations of parental alienation, arguing the children had been poisoned against them.

Courts must now consider evidence of domestic violence and accept expert testimony about that abuse only from those with experience working with victims of domestic violence. Dani Hawkes, a family law attorney based in Cottonwood Heights, said the 2024 law has had a tangible impact.

“I have used it in court several times, very effectively, to protect domestic violence survivors — adults and children,” Hawkes said. She said the new bill’s focus on coercive control represents a “major leap forward.”

“The court knows exactly what they’re looking for, and it signals to the custody evaluator, ‘You’ve got to be paying attention to this, this is important,’” Hawkes said. She described the experts she works with as diligent, ethical and working to better understand domestic violence and comply with the law. 

The bill also seeks to soften the financial impacts to families. It says judges must consider the parents’ financial situation when ordering therapy for children and require in-network treatment when it’s available. 

In an interview between meetings at the Capitol, Moses said she fields a steady stream of phone calls from parents who say the system is failing them, too.

“So many of these moms — most of them I’m talking to — don’t have the luxury of speaking up,” Moses said. “They can’t. It’s not safe.”

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