Utah Uniform Probate Code And Forms

The Uniform Probate Code (commonly abbreviated UPC) is a uniform act drafted by National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) governing inheritance and the decedents’ estates in states. The primary purposes of the act were to streamline the probate process and to standardize and modernize the various state laws governing will and trust. The Uniform Probate Code addresses what is commonly referred to as the law of wills, intestate succession and donatives transfers, but it also covers a substantial portion of the law regarding gratuitous wealth transfer.

In Legal system, governments have the power to enact statutes or laws, as long as they comply with constitutional mandates. Although the UPC was drafted in the hope that it would be adopted by all states. Currently, only approximately one-third of the states have adopted the UPC as amended. Even among those jurisdictions that adopted the code, some significant variations remain. Therefore, the UPC has not really achieved its purpose of standardizing probate. The probate process is easier in states that have adopted the Uniform Probate Code (a set of laws designed to streamline probate). Some states have adopted the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), a set of laws written by national experts with the goals of making the probate process simpler and giving executors more flexibility. Uniform Laws are carefully drafted for potential enactment by state legislatures. State legislatures can reject them, enact them in entirety, or enact them with modifications.

How the Uniform Probate Code (UPC) Operates

Uniform Probate Code is officially referred to as the Probate, Estates, and Fiduciaries Code.
Probate refers to an area of law involving the distribution of a deceased person’s (decedent) estate. Estate refers to the actions which must be taken to wrap up all of a decedent’s outstanding affairs. Fiduciaries deals with individuals who are involved in the administration of an estate, like a personal representative or executor. There are several areas of the UPC that a person should learn about if they want to plan their estate. An experienced elder law or estate planning attorney could help you discover vital information about the UPC.

Applying for probate

If you’re an executor you can apply for probate yourself or use a solicitor or another person licensed to provide probate services. If there’s no will you can apply for letters of administration. You follow the same steps as applying for probate but you can only apply by post.
• Report the estate’s value and pay any inheritance tax you owe
• You must estimate and report the estate’s value before you apply for probate. Depending on its value, you may have to pay Inheritance Tax.
• You may get a penalty if you send inaccurate information on your Inheritance Tax form.
• If there’s tax to pay, you normally have to pay at least some of it before you’ll get probate.
• You can claim the tax back from the estate or the beneficiaries, if you pay it out of your own bank account. After you submit your online application, you’ll be told what documents you need to post to the probate registry. The probate registry will keep the original will. If you make a copy of it for your records, do not remove any staples or bindings from the original. You must include a cover letter if the will or any updates have changed in any way since you’ve had them. This includes them being damaged or separated for photocopying. The letter should explain what’s been changed and why.

Utah Probate Forms

1. Waiver of Notice
2. Demand for Notice
3. Waiver of Bond
4. Demand for Bond
5. Renunciation and/or Nomination
6. Application for Informal Probate of Will and Informal Appointment of Personal Representative
7. Statement of Informal Probate of Will and Informal Appointment of Personal Representative
8. Application for Informal Probate of Will Without Appointment of Personal Representative
9. Statement of Informal Probate of Will
10. Application for Informal Appointment of Personal Representative
11. Statement of Informal Appointment of Personal Representative
12. Notice of Application for Informal Probate and/or Appointment
13. Petition for Formal Probate of Will and Formal Appointment of Personal Representative
14. Petition for Formal Adjudication of Intestacy and Formal Appointment of Personal Representative
15. Petition for Formal Probate of Will Without Appointment of Personal Representative
16. Petition for Formal Appointment of Personal Representative under a will previously probated, a will not yet probated, or a previous adjudication of intestacy
17. Order of Formal Probate of Will; Appointment of Personal Representative; Adjudication of Intestacy
18. Application for Informal Appointment of Special Administrator
19. Informal Appointment of Special Administrator
20. Petition for Formal Appointment of Special Administrator
21. Order of Formal Appointment of Special Administrator
22. Notice of Formal Petition and Hearing
23. Order Setting Time and Place For Hearing and For Notice
24. Petition and Order for Notice By Publication
25. Notice by Publication
26. Affidavit of Attesting Witness
27. Affidavit of Person Regarding Execution of Will Where Attesting Wittness Is Not Available
28. Acceptance of Appointment by Personal Representative or Special Administrator
29. Bond of Personal Representative
30. Letters Testamentary, or of Administration, or of Special Administration
31. Announcement of Appointment and Notice to Creditors
32. Inventory
33. Claim Against Estate
34. Waiver of Defense of Limitation
35. Petition for Allowance of Claims and Order of Hearing
36. Order Allowing Claims
37. Notice of Disallowance of Claim
38. Petition for Family Allowance
39. Order Granting Family Allowance
40. Petition for Elective Share
41. Order Granting Elective Share
42. Renunciation of Interest
43. Waiver of Fee
44. Petition for Removal of Personal Representative for Cause, for Appointment of Successor Personal Representative, and for Order of Hearing
45. Order for Removal of Personal Representative for Cause and Appointment of Successor Personal Representative
46. Notice of Intention to Resign
47. Statement of Resignation of Personal Representative and Petition for Appointment of Successor Personal Representative
48. Petition for Removal of Personal Representative, Appointment of Ancillary Personal Representative, and for Order of Hearing
49. Verified Statement Closing Small Estate
50. Verified Statement of Personal Representative Closing Estate
51. Receipt and Release, and Consent to Closing by Sworn Statement
52. Petition for Approval of Final Settlement and Distribution; Determining Testacy; Determining Heirs
53. Summary of Account
54. Schedule of Distribution
55. Estate Closing Order
56. Schedule of Distribution
57. Determination of Heirs
58. Determination of Devisees Under Formally Probated Will
59. Receipt and Release
60. Decree of Final Discharge
61. Petition For Order Determining Heir
62. Determination of Heirs
63. Application for Certificate from Registrar
64. Certificate of Registrar
65. Affidavit of Domiciliary Foreign Personal Representative for Payment or Delivery Without Local Administration
66. Proof of Authority of Domiciliary Foreign Personal Representative
67. Affidavit of Authority and Demand for Transfer by Domiciliary Foreign Personal Representative
68. Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property Pursuant to Small Estate Proceeding
69. Affidavit for Transfer of Title to Motor Vehicles Pursuant to Small Estate Proceeding
70. Acceptance of Appointment
71. Notice of Trust
Guardianship and Conservatorship Forms
72. Request for Notice Petition for Appointment of Guardian of Minor
73. Appointment of Guardian of Minor
74. Petition for Appointment of Guardian of Incapacitated Person
75. Notice of Petition and Hearing
76. Notice of Petition and Hearing for Guardianship and Conservatorship
77. Appointment of Guardian of Incapacitated Person
78. Acceptance of Appointment by Guardian, Conservator
79. Letters of Guardianship
80. Petition for Appointment of Conservator
81. Appointment of Conservator
82. Letters of Conservatorship
83. Report of Conditions of Ward
84. Financial Accounting of Assets of Incapacitated Person
85. Petition for Appointment of Guardian and Conservator of Minor
86. Appointment of Guardian and Conservator of Minor
87. Acceptance of Appointment as Guardian and Conservator of Minor
88. Letters of Guardianship and Conservatorship of Minor
89. Bond of Guardian or Conservator
90. Petition for Termination of Conservatorship
91. Order Terminating Conservatorship
92. Decree of Final Discharge
Miscellaneous Forms
93. Receipt for Documents
94. Affidavit of Domicile
95. Personal Representative’s Deed
96. Deed of Distribution
97. Affidavit of Surviving Joint Tennant

Terms Used In Probate Law

• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, the legislature must agree to it.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is to appeal or to take an appeal. One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgment of another lower court or tribunal.
• Assets: The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him or her out of court.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract.
• Circumstantial evidence: All evidence except eyewitness testimony.
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers’ examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Felony: A crime carrying a penalty of more than a year in prison.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Jurisdiction: The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another’s agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
• Probate: Proving a will
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party’s claims.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads “not guilty” and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.

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