How Probate Works in Utah

1) File an application for informal probate and appointment with the registrar, or a petition for formal probate, in the district court of the county where the decedent was domiciled (or, for a nonresident, where the decedent's property was located). Informal probate or formal testacy proceedings generally must begin within three years after death. 2) The personal representative is appointed and receives letters (bond is usually not required). 3) The personal representative may publish a notice to creditors once a week for three weeks and may mail notice to known creditors (doing so shortens the claim period). 4) Within three months after appointment, prepare an inventory with date-of-death values and send it to interested persons who request it (filing it with the court is optional). 5) Pay allowed claims, expenses and taxes. 6) Distribute the estate and close it, for example by filing a verified closing statement no earlier than four months after the original appointment, once the creditor claim period has expired.

Utah follows the Uniform Probate Code, so most estates can use informal probate (an application to the court's registrar, without a hearing) rather than formal court-supervised proceedings. For very small estates, if the inventory shows the estate (less liens) is worth no more than the homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, administration costs, reasonable funeral expenses and last-illness medical expenses, the personal representative may distribute immediately without notice to creditors and close the estate by a verified closing statement.

If the personal representative publishes a notice to creditors (once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and as required by Utah Code § 45-1-101), claims arising before death must be presented within three months after the first publication. A creditor who is mailed or given written notice has until the later of 90 days after the published notice or 60 days after the mailing or delivery. In any event, claims are barred if not presented within one year after death.

Priority for appointment as personal representative: the person named in a probated will, then a surviving spouse who is a devisee, other devisees, the surviving spouse, other heirs, and, 45 days after death, any creditor. A person under 21, or one the court finds unsuitable in formal proceedings, may not serve. The statute does not bar nonresidents, and a personal representative appointed in the decedent's home state has priority. No bond is required unless the will requires one, an interested person requests it before appointment, a special administrator is appointed without notice, or the court orders it; the court may also dispense with a bond.

Thirty days after the death, a successor may collect money owed to the decedent and tangible personal property (including instruments such as stock certificates) by presenting an affidavit stating that the value of the entire estate subject to administration, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, is not more than $100,000; that 30 days have passed since the death; that no petition to appoint a personal representative is pending or granted anywhere; and that the successor is entitled to the property. The affidavit is not filed with the court; it is signed before a notary and given to the bank or other holder. Up to four registered boats, motor vehicles, trailers or semitrailers may also be transferred through the Motor Vehicle Division on the affidavit (with the $100,000 figure computed excluding those vehicles). Water company shares are not eligible. The Utah courts' guidance states this procedure is not used for real property.

Probate cases are filed in the district court of the county where the person lived at death or owned property (Utah Code 75-3-201); if there is a will, the original must be filed with the court. Xchange, the Utah courts' case-information database for district and justice courts, shows case summaries (parties, attorneys, documents filed, hearings, judgments); it requires a login and fees, and images of public district court documents can be purchased. Public terminals are available at most district court locations.