How do one answer/respond to a first petition for child custody form?

There is a form!! Ask for it at the court house.

The party who filed the Request for Order for Child Custody was supposed to serve you with a blank response if they didn't you can go to the clerk's office to pick up the forms or check with your county's facilitators office who can help you fill out the appropriate forms or hire an attorney to take care of it for you.

Generally, you answer each paragraph in a complaint. If the first one says you are the parent, you admit it. If the second one says you abused the children, and you didn't, you deny it. In other words, you have to look at each paragraph and if facts are alleged, you have to either admit, deny or state that you don't have any knowledge whether the fact is true or false. A lawyer would help in the process.

When there are no forms (and you're right, the State of Utah's online forms do not include forms for responding to a divorce), you hire an attorney. This does *not* mean you must hire an attorney to do everything for you. Utah now allows for people to hire attorneys for limited purposes. Many attorneys, including me, will charge lower fees to perform services you specify or to draft certain documents, without you having to have the attorney "represent" in every aspect of your case. For example, when there are no forms for responding to a divorce complaint, you can pay an attorney a few hundred dollars to prepare those documents for you, and then you sign them and file them and serve them yourself. Or you can hire the attorney to prepare and file and serve the documents for you. In this way, you use the attorney's services as you need or want them, and pay as you go. See Rule 75 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure: Rule 75. Limited appearance. (a) An attorney acting pursuant to an agreement with a party for limited representation that complies with the Utah Rules of Professional Conduct may enter an appearance limited to one or more of the following purposes: (a)(1) filing a pleading or other paper; (a)(2) acting as counsel for a specific motion; (a)(3) acting as counsel for a specific discovery procedure; (a)(4) acting as counsel for a specific hearing, including a trial, pretrial conference, or an alternative dispute resolution proceeding; or (a)(5) any other purpose with leave of the court. (b) Before commencement of the limited appearance the attorney shall file a Notice of Limited Appearance signed by the attorney and the party. The Notice shall specifically describe the purpose and scope of the appearance and state that the party remains responsible for all matters not specifically described in the Notice. The clerk shall enter on the docket the attorney?s name and a brief statement of the limited appearance. The Notice of Limited Appearance and all actions taken pursuant to it are subject to Rule 11. (c) Any party may move to clarify the description of the purpose and scope of the limited appearance. (d) A party on whose behalf an attorney enters a limited appearance remains responsible for all matters not specifically described in the Notice.