Utah estate administration
Small-estate limit: $100,000
This guide explains probate in Utah: Utah uses a 30-day successor affidavit for a net estate capped at $100,000 and handles probate petitions in District Court. The affidavit transfers personal property, while the threshold counts the entire estate subject to administration.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
After 30 days, a successor may use an affidavit when the entire estate subject to administration, wherever located and less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000. No personal-representative application may be pending or granted. The affidavit collects personal property; real property still counts in the threshold and is not transferred by this affidavit.
Collection of personal property by affidavitSimplified route
After 30 days, a successor may use an affidavit when the entire estate subject to administration, wherever located and less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000. No personal-representative application may be pending or granted. The affidavit collects personal property; real property still counts in the threshold and is not transferred by this affidavit.
Eligibility and caveatsCourt cost
A probate petition that invokes District Court jurisdiction and is not governed by another fee subsection uses the $375 general civil-petition fee. The cited version is effective May 6, 2026 and expressly superseded January 1, 2027.
Filing-cost detailExecutor compensation
A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation. If an interested person objects, the court evaluates the quality, quantity, and value of services and the circumstances. A will provision may be renounced before qualification; the statute states no percentage schedule or separate extraordinary-services rate.
Compensation detailCreditor deadline
Utah has separate bars: three months from first publication, the later of 90 days from published notice or 60 days from actual notice for a notified creditor, and an outer one-year-from-death bar for predeath claims. A single days value would collapse different triggers.
Utah Code § 75-3-801 (Utah Legislature; reviewed August 9, 2026)
Timeline and creditor detailsUtah decision map
Use this map before opening a form or entering a number. It keeps the Utah amount test, time gate, court cost, and creditor record separate so one easy figure does not stand in for the whole administration.
| Question | Recorded Utah answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Collection of personal property by affidavit | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | probate property within the rule's stated scope; net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | $100,000 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 30 days after death; Utah has separate bars: three months from first publication, the later of 90 days from published notice or 60 days from actual notice for a notified creditor, and an outer one-year-from-death bar for predeath claims. A single days value would collapse different triggers. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | $375 is the recorded statewide amount. | Ask the District Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation. If an interested person objects, the court evaluates the quality, quantity, and value of services and the circumstances. A will provision may be renounced before qualification; the statute states no percentage schedule or separate extraordinary-services rate. The relevant base is the estate accounting. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Arithmetic illustration
The recorded Utah ceiling is $100,000, and it is tested against probate property within the rule's stated scope, on a basis this site records as net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. Counted that way, $75,000 sits below the Utah figure and $125,000 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Utah counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Utah ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $75,000 | Below $100,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $125,000 | Above $100,000 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
Next evidence to collect
Official material
The Utah Judiciary publishes a statewide probate self-help section with a dedicated Small estates page and a downloadable motor-vehicle small-estate affidavit form (both linked above). The general Utah Code § 75-3-1201 collection-by-affidavit route is driven by statutory content rather than a single universal blank, so the successor's own sworn affidavit meets the statute; the District Court clerk in the county of residence confirms local filing requirements.
Source trail
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.
The statutes on this page state the rule. These are the documents the court itself publishes. Every link is probed before release, and any link that stops resolving fails the build rather than staying on the page.
Statewide probate entry point. It links a dedicated Small estates page and a downloadable motor-vehicle small-estate affidavit form.
Statewide Utah Judiciary form for transferring a decedent's motor vehicle under the small-estate affidavit procedure. It is offered on the Small estates page in both PDF and Word.
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
Reviewed source note: (1) Thirty days after the death of a decedent, any person indebted to the decedent or having possession of tangible personal property, including an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action, belonging to the decedent shall pay the indebtedness or deliver the tangible personal property, or instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action to a person claiming to be the successor of the decedent, upon being presented with an affidavit made by or on behalf of the successor stating that: (a) the value of the entire estate subject to administration, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000; (b) 30 days have elapsed since the death of the decedent; (c) no application or petition for the appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction; and (d) the claiming successor is entitled
What this means: Source bound to the Utah Legislature's official versioned PDF (le.utah.gov xcode PDF export) rather than the HTML page, which now serves a client-side JavaScript shell that no longer returns statute text to a machine fetch; the PDF returns the codified section body verbatim.
Reviewed source note: (1) (a) The fee for filing any civil complaint or petition invoking the jurisdiction of a court of record not governed by another subsection is $375.
What this means: Source bound to the Utah Legislature's official versioned PDF export rather than the HTML page, which now serves a JavaScript shell; the PDF returns the section body verbatim. The page also states “Superseded 1/1/2027”; $375 is operative on the 2026-08-09 review date and requires re-review before 2027.
Reviewed source note: (1) A personal representative and an attorney are entitled to reasonable compensation for their services. If a petition is filed which either directly or indirectly seeks approval of the personal representative's compensation or the attorney's compensation and if no objection is filed by an interested person to the compensation requested, reasonable compensation shall be the compensation sought in the petition. When an interested person objects to the personal representative's compensation, the court shall determine reasonable compensation for the personal representative based on the quality, quantity, and value of the services rendered to the estate and the circumstances under which those services were rendered, including the practice for other fiduciaries who are in similar circumstances to the personal representative in question.
What this means: Source bound to the Utah Legislature's official versioned PDF export rather than the HTML page, which now serves a JavaScript shell; the PDF returns the section body verbatim.
Reviewed source note: (1) (a) A personal representative, upon appointment, may publish a notice to creditors announcing the personal representative's appointment and address and notifying creditors of the estate to present their claims within three months after the date of the first publication of the notice or be forever barred. (b) The notice described in Subsection (1)(a) shall be published: (i) once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county; and (ii) in accordance with Section 45-1-101 for three weeks. (2) A personal representative may give written notice by mail or other delivery to any creditor, notifying the creditor to present his claim within 90 days from the published notice if given as provided in Subsection (1) above or within 60 days from the mailing or other delivery of the notice, whichever is later, or be forever barred.
What this means: Source bound to the Utah Legislature's official versioned PDF export rather than the HTML page, which now serves a JavaScript shell; the PDF returns the section body verbatim.
Reviewed source note: (1) All claims against a decedent's estate which arose before the death of the decedent, including claims of the state and any subdivision of it, whether due or to become due, absolute or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, founded on contract, tort, or other legal basis, if not barred earlier by other statute of limitations, are barred against the estate, the personal representative, and the heirs and devisees of the decedent, unless presented within the earlier of the following dates: (a) one year after the decedent's death; or (b) within the time provided by Subsection 75-3-801(2) for creditors who are given actual notice, and where notice is published, within the time provided in Subsection 75-3-801(1) for all claims barred by publication.
What this means: Source bound to the Utah Legislature's official versioned PDF export rather than the HTML page, which now serves a JavaScript shell; the PDF returns the section body verbatim.