About Justin D. Caplin

Snapshot

Education 

Dixie State College, AA, 2008

Utah State University, BA, 2010 Major: Sociology; Minor: Family and Human Development

BYU Law School, JD, 2012

Community & Professional Associations

Santa Clara Kiwanis

PTA & Reflections Committee, Santa Clara Elementary School

Safety Officer, Snow Canyon Little League

Southern Utah Bar Association

Family Law Section of Utah State Bar

Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC)

A Glimpse Behind the Curtain

Food: Mexican (and pizza, BBQ, and steak)

Band: Pink Floyd 

Books: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Phantom of the Opera

Movies: V for Vendetta, The Sandlot

Drives: 20-year old Truck

Pets: Two cats (+ a stray that comes and goes)

Family: Married to the amazing Haylee Holyoak. Three children (all boys).

Which Caplins am I related to? All of them, but my parents are Ron and Jan. 

Evenings and Weekends? Ball games, yard work, school board meetings, political events, church, and camping.

My Story

While serving a church mission in Mexico after high school, I had a painful life-changing experience that I wasn’t expecting.  As I entered the last quarter of my two years in Mexico, I was paired with a newer missionary in a remote town. He was a good missionary but I was pretty strict with him - and kind of a jerk - about the mission rules. But after two weeks with him, I openly broke one of the same rules I had gotten after him about. He didn’t say a word, but he silently fumed the rest of the afternoon and our entire walk home. As soon as we entered the apartment he grabbed the phone, called the mission president, and told him he was done and wanted out—he was headed home. I was shocked, devastated, and scared, a giant pit immediately forming in my stomach. I knew it was my fault and couldn’t believe I had sent him over the edge like this. The young man waited 4 more days, then hitched a ride into the city so he could get a bus ticket across Mexico to his hometown. He quit the “best two years” after only three weeks with me.

This ate at me. I made a series of mistakes and knew it. To make matters heavier, I knew that the young man had come from a difficult upbringing - his parents weren’t supportive and he had lived half his life with his grandparents.  And rather than treat him with the care that I should treat everyone, I was a jerk and a hypocrite.

 This sent me deep into introspection, and for months I teetered between being mad at him for quitting, being mad at myself for pushing him down, and always feeling sad for his situation. Honestly, I didn’t know what to do. I was scared. Scared of what would happen to him; scared of what would happen to me; scared of what others would think. But it opened my eyes about the way I treat people and from these depths, I realized I needed to change. Realized I needed to focus on loving and helping those in need, not judging and condemning them.

 A few months later, I returned home and I joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah to try and help a child in difficult circumstances.  A few months after starting that, I got a job at the Southwest Behavioral Health Services working with children in their after school and summer group therapy and respite programs. I decided to focus my studies on social work and made plans to become a Marriage and Family Therapist so that I could help couples and families with to have a better situation in life.

 Ultimately, in my junior year of college I decided to pivot and pursue the legal route rather than the therapist route, but I continue to have that deep purpose to help parents and children, with a goal of improving the circumstances and lives of vulnerable children–those of divorce. To this end I try to bring an understanding but challenging approach to my representation, listening to my clients but challenging and guiding them to see how they can overcome their own situations by improving themselves and trying to work out a parenting plan and financial orders that will permit future peace despite the family breakup.