Après la signature de votre testament de l'Utah

The original, and where it lives

After the testator's death and on request of an interested person, a person having custody of the will delivers it with reasonable promptness to a person able to secure its probate; a person who wilfully fails to deliver is liable to a person aggrieved for the damages the failure causes, and one who refuses after a court order is subject to contempt (Utah Code § 75-2-902). Keep the signed original where your personal representative can find it, and tell them where that is.

How it was signed, and proving it

A will is in writing, signed by the testator or in the testator's name by another individual in the testator's conscious presence and at the testator's direction, and signed by at least two individuals, each within a reasonable time after witnessing the signing or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature or of the will (Utah Code § 75-2-502). A will that does not comply is valid as a holographic will, witnessed or not, if the signature and the material portions are in the testator's handwriting; an electronic will is a record readable as text, signed and witnessed in the testator's physical or electronic presence (§ 75-2-1405); and a writing not executed in compliance is treated as the will where clear and convincing evidence shows the decedent intended it (§ 75-2-503).

A will is made self-proved — admitted without the witnesses' testimony — by the testator's acknowledgment and the witnesses' affidavits before an officer authorized to administer oaths, in substantially the statute's forms, at execution or at any time afterward (§ 75-2-504). A will from an online service is as valid as any other if it was executed this way; the formality, not the source, decides.

Your personal representative

The will nominates the personal representative; the court appoints. A probate proceeding is commenced within three years after the death, after which the presumption of intestacy is final (Utah Code § 75-3-107). Within three months after the appointment the representative prepares an inventory of the decedent's property with each item's fair market value and any encumbrance (§ 75-3-705); may publish a notice to creditors and gives written notice to known creditors (§ 75-3-801); administers the claims, which are barred one year after the death or sooner under the notices (§ 75-3-803, § 75-3-806); and is entitled to reasonable compensation, reviewable by the court on an interested person's objection (§ 75-3-718, § 75-3-720).

What changes a will

A new will or a codicil executed with the same formalities (Utah Code § 75-2-502), or a writing the court finds by clear and convincing evidence was intended as a revocation, an addition or alteration, or a revival (§ 75-2-503). Marriage, divorce and the birth of a child change what a will does by operation of the Probate Code; after any of them, review the instrument with a licensed Utah attorney of your choosing. A surviving spouse keeps the right to elect against the will — one-third of the augmented estate, by a petition within nine months after the death or six months after the probate (§ 75-2-202, § 75-2-211) — and the homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance regardless of the will (§ 75-2-402, § 75-2-403, § 75-2-404).

A will and a trust together

A will and a revocable trust do different work. The trust governs what is titled to its trustee (Utah Code § 75B-2-401, § 75B-2-816); the will governs what is left in your own name, and may leave that property to the trust. A later will or codicil that expressly refers to the trust can also amend or revoke the trust where the terms provide no exclusive method (§ 75B-2-602). Property passing under the will goes through probate; property in the trust passes by the trust's terms, though it remains subject to your creditors' claims and your family's allowances to the extent the probate estate is inadequate (§ 75B-2-505).

What happens at your death

The custodian delivers the will (Utah Code § 75-2-902). Where the entire estate subject to administration, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000 and no personal representative is appointed, a successor collects personal property, securities and up to four registered vehicles on an affidavit 30 days after the death (§ 75-3-1201); otherwise a personal representative is appointed and administers as above. Your spouse and minor or dependent children take the homestead allowance of $22,500 ahead of all claims (§ 75-2-402). Utah imposes no estate or inheritance tax.

When a licensed Utah attorney is the right next call

Whether a will was validly executed, what a marriage or a divorce did to it, whether to add a trust, and how the elective share and the allowances interact with the plan are questions for a licensed Utah attorney of your choosing. TrusteeClear explains the statutes and organizes the record; it reviews nothing you prepare.