Terms Used In Utah Code > Title 75 > Chapter 1 - General Provisions, Definitions, and Probate Jurisdiction of Court

• Administrator: includes "executor" when the subject matter justifies the use. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Agent: includes an attorney-in-fact under a durable or nondurable power of attorney, an individual authorized to make decisions concerning another's health care, and an individual authorized to make decisions for another under a natural death act. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• 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, thelegislature 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 judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Application: means a written request to the registrar for an order of informal probate or appointment under Chapter 3, Part 3, Informal Probate and Appointment Proceedings. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) 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 (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. ^{Source: OCC}
• Beneficiary designation: means a governing instrument naming a beneficiary of an insurance or annuity policy, of an account with POD designation, of a security registered in beneficiary form (TOD), or of a pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, or other nonprobate transfer at death. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Circumstantial evidence: All evidence except eyewitness testimony.
• City: includes , depending on population, a metro township as defined in Section 10-3c-102. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Commission: means the Labor Commission created in Section 34A-1-103. See Utah Code 34A-1-102
• Compensation: means the payments and benefits provided for in this chapter or Chapter 3, Utah Occupational Disease Act. See Utah Code 34A-2-102
• Conservator: means a person who is appointed by a court to manage the estate of a protected person. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• 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.
• Court: means any of the courts of record in this state having jurisdiction in matters relating to the affairs of decedents. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Descendant: means all of an individual's descendants of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined by the definition of child and parent contained in this title. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Devise: when used as a noun, means a testamentary disposition of real or personal property and, when used as a verb, means to dispose of real or personal property by will. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Devisee: means any person designated in a will to receive a devise. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Disability: means an administrative determination that may result in an entitlement to compensation as a consequence of becoming medically impaired as to function. See Utah Code 34A-2-102
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Distributee: means any person who has received property of a decedent from his personal representative other than as a creditor or purchaser. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Division: means the Division of Industrial Accidents. See Utah Code 34A-2-102
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Estate: includes the property of the decedent, trust, or other person whose affairs are subject to this title as originally constituted and as it exists from time to time during administration. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• 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: includes "administrator" when the subject matter justifies the use. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fiduciary: includes a personal representative, guardian, conservator, and trustee. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Formal proceedings: means proceedings conducted before a judge with notice to interested persons. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Governing instrument: means a deed, will, trust, insurance or annuity policy, account with POD designation, security registered in beneficiary form (TOD), pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, instrument creating or exercising a power of appointment or a power of attorney, or a dispositive, appointive, or nominative instrument of any similar type. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Guardian: means a person who has qualified as a guardian of a minor or incapacitated person pursuant to testamentary or court appointment, or by written instrument as provided in Section Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• 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.
• Incapacitated: means a judicial determination after proof by clear and convincing evidence that an adult's ability to do the following is impaired to the extent that the individual lacks the ability, even with appropriate technological assistance, to meet the essential requirements for financial protection or physical health, safety, or self-care:
       (24)(a) receive and evaluate information;
       (24)(b) make and communicate decisions; or
       (24)(c) provide for necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, health care, or safety. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• Interested person: includes heirs, devisees, children, spouses, creditors, beneficiaries, and any others having a property right in or claim against a trust estate or the estate of a decedent, ward, or protected person. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Issue: means a descendant of an individual. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Jurisdiction: (1) 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. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: includes an oil, gas, or other mineral lease. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• 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}
• Letters: includes letters testamentary, letters of guardianship, letters of administration, and letters of conservatorship. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Minor: means a person who is under 18 years old. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Organization: includes a corporation, limited liability company, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, joint venture, association, government or governmental subdivision or agency, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Parent: includes any person entitled to take, or who would be entitled to take if the child died without a will, as a parent under this title by intestate succession from the child whose relationship is in question. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• 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.
• Person: means :
       (24)(a) an individual;
       (24)(b) an association;
       (24)(c) an institution;
       (24)(d) a corporation;
       (24)(e) a company;
       (24)(f) a trust;
       (24)(g) a limited liability company;
       (24)(h) a partnership;
       (24)(i) a political subdivision;
       (24)(j) a government office, department, division, bureau, or other body of government; and
       (24)(k) any other organization or entity. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Person: means an individual or an organization. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Personal property: includes :
       (25)(a) money;
       (25)(b) goods;
       (25)(c) chattels;
       (25)(d) effects;
       (25)(e) evidences of a right in action;
       (25)(f) a written instrument by which a pecuniary obligation, right, or title to property is created, acknowledged, transferred, increased, defeated, discharged, or diminished; and
       (25)(g) a right or interest in an item described in Subsections (25)(a) through (f). See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal representative: includes executor, administrator, successor personal representative, special administrator, and persons who perform substantially the same function under the law governing their status. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Petition: means a written request to the court for an order after notice. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• 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
• Proceeding: includes action at law and suit in equity. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Property: includes both real and personal property or any interest therein and means anything that may be the subject of ownership. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Protected person: means a person for whom a conservator has been appointed. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Registrar: means the official of the court designated to perform the functions of registrar as provided in Section 75-1-307. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
• Security: includes any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest, or participation in an oil, gas, or mining title or lease or in payments out of production under such a title or lease, collateral trust certificate, transferable share, voting trust certificate, and, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a security, or any certificate of interest or participation, any temporary or interim certificate, receipt, or certificate of deposit for, or any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Sex: means , in relation to an individual, the individual's biological sex, either male or female, at birth, according to distinct reproductive roles as manifested by:
       (34)(a) sex and reproductive organ anatomy;
       (34)(b) chromosomal makeup; and
       (34)(c) endogenous hormone profiles. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Special administrator: means a personal representative as described in Sections 75-3-614 through 75-3-618. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, or a Native American tribe or band recognized by federal law or formally acknowledged by a state. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Successor personal representative: means a personal representative, other than a special administrator, who is appointed to succeed a previously appointed personal representative. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Successors: means persons, other than creditors, who are entitled to property of a decedent under the decedent's will or this title. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Supervised administration: means the proceedings described in Chapter 3, Part 5, Supervised Administration. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Testacy proceeding: means a proceeding to establish a will or determine intestacy. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• testamentary trustee: includes a trustee to whom assets are transferred by will, to the extent of the devised assets. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• 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.
• Trust: includes :
            (60)(a)(i) a health savings account, as defined in Section 223of the Internal Revenue Code;
            (60)(a)(ii) an express trust, private or charitable, with additions thereto, wherever and however created; or
            (60)(a)(iii) a trust created or determined by judgment or decree under which the trust is to be administered in the manner of an express trust. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Trustee: includes an original, additional, and successor trustee, and cotrustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by the court. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• United States: includes each state, district, and territory of the United States of America. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Ward: means a person for whom a guardian has been appointed. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Writing: includes :
       (48)(a) printing;
       (48)(b) handwriting; and
       (48)(c) information stored in an electronic or other medium if the information is retrievable in a perceivable format. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5