Terms Used In Utah Code > Title 75 > Chapter 2 - Intestate Succession and Wills

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Business entity: means :
       (1)(a) a sole proprietorship;
       (1)(b) a corporation;
       (1)(c) a partnership;
       (1)(d) a limited liability company; or
       (1)(e) an entity similar to one described in Subsections (1)(a) through (d). See Utah Code 34A-2-1002
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• 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
• Common disaster: A sudden and extraordinary misfortune that brings about the simultaneous or near-simultaneous deaths of two or more associated persons, such as husband and wife.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• 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
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon 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
• Director: means the director of the division, unless the context requires otherwise. See Utah Code 34A-2-102
• Disability: means cause for a protective order as described by Section 75-5-401. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Dower: A widow
• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Utah Code 75-2-1402
• Electronic presence: means the relationship of two or more individuals in different locations communicating in real time to the same extent as if the individuals were physically present in the same location. See Utah Code 75-2-1402
• Electronic will: means a will executed electronically in compliance with Subsection 75-2-1405(1). See Utah Code 75-2-1402
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equal: means , with respect to biological sex, of the same value. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• 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.
• Exempt property: means that property of a decedent's estate which is described in Section 75-2-403. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiduciary: includes a personal representative, guardian, conservator, and trustee. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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
• 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
• Incapacity: means incapacitated. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• 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.
• Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
• Marital deduction: The deduction(s) that can be taken in the determination of gift and estate tax liabilities because of the existence of a marriage or marital relationship.
• Minor: means a person who is under 18 years old. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Nonadverse party: means a person who does not have a substantial beneficial interest in the trust or other property arrangement that would be adversely affected by the exercise or nonexercise of the power that the person possesses respecting the trust or other property arrangement. See Utah Code 75-2-201
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• 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.
• Payor: means a trustee, insurer, business entity, employer, government, governmental agency or subdivision, or any other person authorized or obligated by law or a governing instrument to make payments. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Person: means an individual or an organization. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• 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
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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 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
• power of appointment: includes a power to designate the beneficiary of a beneficiary designation. See Utah Code 75-2-201
• 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}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Presently exercisable general power of appointment: means a power of appointment under which, at the time in question, the decedent, whether or not the decedent then had the capacity to exercise the power, held a power to create a present or future interest in himself, his creditors, his estate, or creditors of his estate, and includes a power to revoke or invade the principal of a trust or other property arrangement. See Utah Code 75-2-201
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probate estate: means property that would pass by intestate succession if the decedent died without a valid will. See Utah Code 75-2-201
• 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
• Property: includes values subject to a beneficiary designation. See Utah Code 75-2-201
• 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 75-2-1402
• 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
• 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.
• Sign: means , with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record other than a will:
       (51)(a) to execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
       (51)(b) to attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Sign: means , with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:
       (5)(a) to execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
       (5)(b) to affix to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol or process. See Utah Code 75-2-1402
• Signature: includes a name, mark, or sign written with the intent to authenticate an instrument or writing. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• 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
• State: includes a federally recognized Indian tribe. See Utah Code 75-2-1402
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Survive: includes its derivatives, such as "survives" "survived" "survivor" and "surviving. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
• Testate: To die leaving a will.
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testator: includes an individual of either sex. See Utah Code 75-1-201 v2
• 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
• 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
• Utah Code: means the 1953 recodification of the Utah Code, as amended, unless the text expressly references a portion of the 1953 recodification of the Utah Code as it existed:
       (42)(a) on the day on which the 1953 recodification of the Utah Code was enacted; or
       (42)(b)

            (42)(b)(i) after the day described in Subsection (42)(a); and

            (42)(b)(ii) before the most recent amendment to the referenced portion of the 1953 recodification of the Utah Code. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Waiver: means a workers' compensation coverage waiver issued under this part. See Utah Code 34A-2-1002
• 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