Title 75, Title 75: Utah Uniform Probate Code

75-2-403. Exempt property. In addition to the homestead allowance, the decedent's surviving spouse is entitled from the estate to a value, not exceeding $15,000 in excess of any security interests therein, in household furniture, automobiles, furnishings, appliances, and personal…

75-2-404. Family allowance. (1) In addition to the right to homestead allowance and exempt property, the decedent's surviving spouse and minor children whom the decedent was obligated to support and children who were in fact being supported by the decedent are entitled to a reaso…

75-2-405. Source, determination, and documentation. (1) If the estate is otherwise sufficient, property specifically devised may not be used to satisfy rights to homestead allowance or exempt property. Subject to this restriction, the surviving spouse, guardians of minor children…

75-2-501. Who may make will -- Testamentary capacity. (1) An individual may make a will if the individual: is 18 years old or older; and has testamentary capacity at the time that the will is executed. (2) A testator has testamentary capacity under Subsectionif the testator: (1) …

75-2-502. Execution -- Witnessed wills -- Holographic wills. (1) Except as provided in Subsectionand in Sections,, and, a will shall be: (2) 75-2-503 75-2-506 75-2-513 in writing; signed by the testator or in the testator's name by some other individual in the testator's consciou…

75-2-503. Writings intended as wills. Although a document or writing added upon a document was not executed in compliance with Section, 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 establ…

75-2-504. Self-proved will. (1) A will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in which execut…

75-2-505. Who may witness. (1) An individual generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will. (2) The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it.

75-2-506. Choice of law as to execution. A written will is valid if executed in compliance with Sectionoror if its execution complies with the law at the time of execution of the place where the will is executed, or of the law of the place where at the time of execution or at the…

75-2-507. Revocation by writing or by act. (1) A will or any part thereof is revoked: by executing a subsequent will that revokes the previous will or part expressly or by inconsistency; or by performing a revocatory act on the will, if the testator performed the act with the int…

75-2-508. Revocation by change of circumstances. Except as provided in Sections,, and, a change of circumstances does not revoke a will or any part of it.

75-2-509. Revival of revoked will. (1) If a subsequent will that wholly revoked a previous will is thereafter revoked by a revocatory act under Subsection, the previous will remains revoked unless it is revived. The previous will is revived if it is evident from the circumstances…

75-2-510. Incorporation by reference. 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.

75-2-511. Testamentary additions to trusts. (1) A will may validly devise property to the trustee of a trust established or to be established: during the testator's lifetime by the testator, by the testator and some other person, or by some other person, including a funded or unf…

75-2-512. Events of independent significance. 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 …

75-2-513. Separate writing identifying devise of certain types of tangible personal property. 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 specifi…

75-2-514. Contracts concerning succession. (1) A contract to make a will or devise, or not to revoke a will or devise, or to die intestate, if executed after July 1, 1998, may be established only by: provisions of a will stating material provisions of the contract; an express ref…

75-2-515. Penalty clause for contest. 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.

75-2-601. Scope. In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the rules of construction in this part control the construction of a will.

75-2-602. Will construed to pass all property and after-acquired property. A will is construed to pass all property the testator owns at death and all property acquired by the estate after the testator's death.

75-2-603. Definitions -- Antilapse -- Deceased devisee -- Class gifts -- Substitute gifts. (1) As used in this section: "Alternative devise" means a devise that is expressly created by the will and, under the terms of the will, can take effect instead of another devise on the hap…

75-2-604. Failure of testamentary provision. (1) Except as provided in Section, a devise, other than a residuary devise, that fails for any reason becomes a part of the residue. 75-2-603 (2) Except as provided in Section, if the residue is devised to two or more persons, the shar…

75-2-605. Increase in securities -- Accessions. (1) 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 addit…

75-2-606. Nonademption of specific devises -- Unpaid proceeds of sale, condemnation, or insurance -- Sale by conservatory or agent. (1) A specific devisee has a right to the specifically devised property in the testator's estate at death and: any balance of the purchase price, to…

75-2-607. Nonexoneration. 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.

75-2-609. Ademption by satisfaction. (1) Property a testator gave in his lifetime to a person is treated as a satisfaction of a devise in whole or in part, only if: the will provides for deduction of the gift; the testator declared in a contemporaneous writing that the gift is in…

75-2-610. Marital deduction formulas -- Wills. For estates of decedents dying after December 31, 1981, where a decedent's will executed before September 13, 1981, contains a formula expressly providing that the decedent's spouse is to receive the maximum amount of property qualif…

75-2-611. Direction to pay taxes in will. A general direction in a will to pay all taxes imposed as a result of a testator's death or similar language shall not be construed to include taxes imposed on a "generation skipping transfer" under Section 2601 of the Internal Revenue Co…

75-2-701. Scope. 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 part…

75-2-702. Requirement of survival by 120 hours -- Under probate code or governing instrument -- Co-owners -- Exceptions -- Protection of payors, third parties, and bona fide purchasers -- Personal liability of recipient. (1) Except as provided in Subsection, an individual who is …

75-2-703. Choice of law as to meaning and effect of governing instrument. The meaning and legal effect of a governing instrument is determined by the local law of the state selected in the governing instrument, unless the application of that law is contrary to the provisions rela…

75-2-705. Class gifts construed to accord with intestate succession. (1) 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…

75-2-706. Definitions -- Life insurance -- Retirement plan -- Account with POD designation -- Transfer-on-death registration -- Deceased beneficiary -- Substitute gift -- Protection of payors and bona fide purchasers -- Personal liability of recipient. (1) As used in this section…

75-2-707. Definitions -- Survivorship with respect to future interests under terms of trust -- Substitute takers. (1) As used in this section: "Alternative future interest" means an expressly created future interest that can take effect in possession or enjoyment instead of anoth…

75-2-708. Class gifts to "descendants," "issue," or "heirs of the body" -- Form of distribution if none specified. 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 mem…

75-2-709. Definitions -- Representation -- Per capita at each generation -- Per stirpes. (1) As used in this section: "Deceased child" or "deceased descendant" means a child or a descendant who either predeceased the distribution date or is considered to have predeceased the dist…

75-2-710. Worthier-title doctrine abolished. The doctrine of worthier title is abolished as a rule of law and 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," "d…

75-2-711. Interests in "heirs" and like. If an applicable statute or a governing instrument calls for a present or future distribution to or creates a present or future interest in a designated individual's "heirs," "heirs-at-law," "next-of-kin," "relatives," or "family," or lang…

75-2-801. Disclaimer of property interests -- Time -- Form -- Effect -- Waiver and bar -- Remedy not exclusive -- Application. (1) A person, or the representative of a person, to whom an interest in or with respect to property or an interest therein devolves by whatever means may…

75-2-802. Effect of divorce, annulment, and decree of separation. (1) An individual who is divorced from the decedent or whose marriage to the decedent has been annulled is not a surviving spouse unless, by virtue of a subsequent marriage, the individual is married to the deceden…

75-2-803. Definitions -- Effect of homicide on intestate succession, wills, trusts, joint assets, life insurance, and beneficiary designations -- Petition -- Forfeiture -- Revocation. (1) As used in this section: "Conviction" means the same as that term is defined in Section. 77-…

75-2-804. Definitions -- Revocation of probate and nonprobate transfers by divorce -- Effect of severance -- Revival -- Protection of payors, third parties, and bona fide purchasers -- Personal liability of recipient -- No revocation by other changes of circumstances. (1) As used…

75-2-805. Reformation to correct mistakes. The court may reform the terms of a governing instrument, even if unambiguous, to conform the terms to the transferor's intention if it is proved by clear and convincing evidence that the transferor's intent and the terms of the governin…

75-2-806. Modification to achieve transferor's tax objectives. To achieve the transferor's tax objectives, the court may modify the terms of a governing instrument in a manner that is not contrary to the transferor's probable intention. The court may provide that the modification…

75-2-807. Effect of disqualifying felony offense on intestate succession, wills, trusts, joint assets, life insurance, beneficiary designations -- Forfeiture -- Revocation. (1) As used in this section: "Abuser" means a person who is convicted of committing a disqualifying felony …

75-2-902. Duty of custodian of will -- Liability. 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 a person able to secure its probate. A person who wilfully fail…