Title 29A — UNIFORM PROBATE CODE

(a) In addition to the homestead allowance and exempt property, the decedent's surviving spouse and minor children whom the decedent was obligated to support and the children who were in fact being supported by the decedent shall be allowed a reasonable family allowance in money …

An individual eighteen or more years of age who is of sound mind may make a will. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-501.

(a) A will is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting. (b) A will not valid as a holographic will must be: (1) In writing; (2) Signed by the testator or in the testator's name …

Although a document or writing added upon a document was not executed in compliance with § 29A-2-502 , the document or writing is treated as if it had been executed in compliance with that section if the proponent of the document or writing establishes by clear and convincing evi…

(a) An individual generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will. (b) The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-505.

A written will is valid if executed in compliance with § 29A-2-502 or 29A-2-503 or if its execution complies with the law at the time of execution of the jurisdiction where the will is executed, or of the law of the jurisdiction where at the time of execution or at the time of de…

(a) A will or any part thereof is revoked: (1) By executing a subsequent will that revokes the previous will or part expressly or by inconsistency; or (2) By performing a revocatory act on the will, if the testator performed the act with the intent and for the purpose of revoking…

Except as provided in §§ 29A-2-803 and 29A-2-804 , a change of circumstances does not revoke a will or any part of it. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-508.

(a) If a subsequent will that wholly revoked a previous will is thereafter revoked by a revocatory act under § 29A-2-507(a)(2), the previous will is revived only if it is evident from the circumstances of the revocation of the subsequent will or from the testator's contemporary o…

A writing in existence when a will is executed may be incorporated by reference if the language of the will manifests this intent and describes the writing sufficiently to permit its identification. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-510.

(a) A will may validly devise property to the trustee of a trust established or to be established (i) during the testator's lifetime by the testator, by the testator and some other person, or by some other person, including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, although the …

A will may dispose of property by reference to acts and events that have significance apart from their effect upon the dispositions made by the will, whether they occur before or after the execution of the will or before or after the testator's death. The execution or revocation …

Whether or not the provisions relating to holographic wills apply, a will may refer to a written statement or list to dispose of items of tangible personal property not otherwise specifically disposed of by the will, other than money. To be admissible under this section as eviden…

A contract to make a will or devise, or not to revoke a will or devise, or to die intestate, if executed on or after July 1, 1995, may be established only by (i) provisions of a will stating material provisions of the contract, (ii) an express reference in a will to a contract an…

A will may be deposited by the testator or the testator's agent with any court for safekeeping. The will must be sealed and kept confidential. During the testator's lifetime, a deposited will must be delivered only to the testator or to a person authorized in writing signed by th…

After the death of a testator and on request of an interested person, a person having custody of a will of the testator shall deliver it with reasonable promptness to an appropriate court or to a person able to secure its probate. A person who willfully fails to deliver a will is…

A provision in a will purporting to penalize an interested person for contesting the will or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate is unenforceable if probable cause exists for instituting proceedings. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-517.

In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the rules of construction in this part control the construction of a will. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-601.

A will may provide for the passage of all property the testator owns at death and all property acquired by the estate after the testator's death. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-602.

(a) If an individual named as a devisee in a will dies before the will was executed, or dies after the will was executed and before the testator, the devise fails unless (i) the devisee is a grandparent, a descendant of a grandparent, a stepchild, or a descendant of the stepchild…

(a) A devise, other than a residuary devise, that fails for any reason becomes a part of the residue. (b) A residuary devise that fails for any reason passes to the testator's heirs unless the residue is devised to two or more persons, in which event the failed devise passes to t…

(a) If a testator executes a will that devises securities and the testator then owned securities that meet the description in the will, the devise includes additional securities owned by the testator at death to the extent the additional securities were acquired by the testator a…

(a) A specific devisee has a right to the specifically devised property in the testator's estate at death and: (1) Any balance of the purchase price, together with any security agreement, owing from a purchaser to the testator at death by reason of sale of the property; (2) Any a…

A specific devise passes subject to any mortgage interest existing at the date of death, without right of exoneration, regardless of a general directive in the will to pay debts. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-607.

In the absence of a requirement that a power of appointment be exercised by a reference, or by an express or specific reference, to the power, a general residuary clause in a will, or a will making general disposition of all of the testator's property, expresses an intention to e…

(a) Property a testator gave during lifetime to a person is treated as a satisfaction of a devise in whole or in part, only if (i) the will provides for deduction of the gift, (ii) the testator declared in a writing that the gift is in satisfaction of the devise or that its value…

In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the rules of construction in this part control the construction of a governing instrument. The rules of construction in this part apply to a governing instrument of any type, except as the application of a particular section is…

The meaning and legal effect of a governing instrument is determined by the local law of the state selected by the transferor in the governing instrument, unless the application of that law is contrary to the provisions relating to the elective share described in Part 2, the prov…

If a governing instrument creating a power of appointment expressly requires that the power be exercised by a reference, an express reference, or a specific reference, to the power or its source, it is presumed that the donor's intention, in requiring that the donee exercise the …

Adopted individuals and individuals born out of wedlock, and their respective descendants if appropriate to the class, are included in class gifts and other terms of relationship in accordance with the rules for intestate succession. Terms of relationship that do not differentiat…

(a) A future interest created under the terms of a trust is contingent on the beneficiary surviving the distribution date. (b) If an individual named as a beneficiary of a future interest created under the terms of a trust does not survive the distribution date, the future intere…

If a class gift in favor of "descendants," "issue," or "heirs of the body" does not specify the manner in which the property is to be distributed among the class members, the property is distributed among the class members who are living when the interest is to take effect in pos…

(a) If a governing instrument calls for property to be distributed "by representation" or "per stirpes," the property is divided into as many equal shares as there are (i) children of the designated ancestor who survived the distribution date, if any, and (ii) children of the des…

The doctrine of worthier title does not exist in this state either as a rule of law or as a rule of construction. Language in a governing instrument describing the beneficiaries of a disposition as the transferor's "heirs," "heirs at law," "next of kin," "distributees," "relative…

(3) "Divorced individual" includes an individual whose marriage has been annulled. (4) "Governing instrument" means a will, trust, or other governing instrument executed by the divorced individual before the divorce or annulment of the individual's marriage to the former spouse. …

(a) In this section: (1) "Disposition or appointment of property" includes a transfer of an item of property or any other benefit to a beneficiary designated in a will, trust, or other governing instrument. (2) "Governing instrument" means a will, trust, or other governing instru…

(a) In this section: (1) "Disposition or appointment of property" includes a transfer of an item of property or any other benefit to a beneficiary designated in a governing instrument. (2) "Divorce or annulment" means any divorce or annulment, or any dissolution or declaration of…

(a) The administration of an estate being administered in supervised proceedings may be concluded by an order of complete settlement, and the administration of an estate being administered in unsupervised proceedings may be concluded by an order of complete settlement if the cour…

29A-3-1004 Liability of distributees to claimants. 29A-3-1005 Limitations on proceedings against personal representatives. 29A-3-1006 Limitations on actions and proceedings against distributees. 29A-3-1007 Certificate discharging liens securing fiduciary performance. 29A-3-1008 S…

(a) Unless prohibited by order of the court and except for estates being administered in supervised administration proceedings, a personal representative may close an estate by filing with the court no earlier than four months after the date of original appointment of a general p…

After assets of an estate have been distributed and subject to § 29A-3-1006 , an undischarged claim not barred may be prosecuted in a proceeding against one or more distributees. No distributee shall be liable to claimants for amounts received as exempt property, homestead or fam…

Unless previously barred by adjudication and except as provided in the closing statement, the rights of successors and of creditors whose claims have not otherwise been barred against the personal representative for breach of fiduciary duty are barred unless a proceeding to asser…

Unless previously adjudicated in a formal testacy proceeding or in a proceeding settling the accounts of a personal representative or otherwise barred, the claim of a claimant to recover from a distributee who is liable to pay the claim, and the right of an heir or devisee, or of…

After the appointment has terminated, the personal representative, the sureties on the personal representative's bond, or any successor of either, upon the filing of a verified application showing, so far as is known by the applicant, that no action concerning the estate is pendi…

If other property of the estate is discovered after an estate has been settled and the personal representative discharged or after one year after a closing statement has been filed, the court, upon petition of any interested person and upon notice as it directs, may appoint the s…

The power of a person to leave property by will, and the rights of creditors, devisees, and heirs to the person's property are subject to the restrictions and limitations contained in this code to facilitate the prompt settlement of estates. Upon the death of a person, that perso…

Except as provided in § 29A-3-1201 , to be effective to prove the transfer of any property or to nominate a personal representative, a will shall be declared to be valid by an order of informal probate by the clerk of court, or an adjudication of probate by the court. Source: SL …

Except as otherwise provided in chapter 29A-4 , to acquire the powers and undertake the duties and liabilities of a personal representative of a decedent, a person must be appointed by order of the court or clerk, qualify and be issued letters. Administration of an estate is comm…

No proceeding to enforce a claim against the estate of a decedent or the decedent's successors may be revived or commenced before the appointment of a personal representative. After the appointment and until distribution, all proceedings and actions to enforce a claim against the…

Persons interested in decedents' estates may apply to the clerk of court for determinations in the informal proceedings provided in this article, and may petition the court for orders in formal proceedings within the court's jurisdiction including but not limited to those describ…