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Utah Probate Questions & Answers
1 Answer | Asked in Estate Planning and Probate for Utah on
Q: My mom passed away we then find out her attorney is executor of her will. Can we fire him?

She was always nervous could never be alone from age 2. She sighned that not knowing what it meant. He can sell everything including the home property everything inside and out. Mom wouldn’t have willing do this we need help please.

James L. Arrasmith
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answered on Feb 25, 2024

If the attorney serving as the executor of your mother's will is acting in a manner that raises concerns, beneficiaries do have options. Generally, an executor can be removed by the court for valid reasons such as mismanagement of estate assets, failure to comply with the will's terms, or... View More

2 Answers | Asked in Foreclosure, Real Estate Law and Probate for Utah on
Q: I'm an heir to an estate, How do I get my funds out of court after a foreclosure?
Kenneth Prigmore
Kenneth Prigmore
answered on Feb 16, 2024

The entity that foreclosed on the home will have the money initially. If it's over $100k, they will normally refuse to give it to an heir without first your going to court and requesting to be named as the personal represenative.

If it has been long enough, the entity may have turned...
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1 Answer | Asked in Contracts, Real Estate Law and Probate for Utah on
Q: If 4 kids sell a house inherited & 1 nonexecutor says no after contracts start is that legal for a lien to be placed?

4 kids inherited a property from parents with 2 being an executor. After a closing date is set 1 nonexecutor kid places lien on property wanting price to be raised 200k. Price being sold is appraisal value. Is this allowed to stop closing of house and is there really a lien allowed to be placed on... View More

James L. Arrasmith
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answered on Nov 12, 2023

Based on the facts provided, it would likely not be legal for the non-executor sibling to place a lien on the inherited property to prevent the sale after contracts have been started. Here are some key considerations:

- If there are multiple heirs, the executors have authority to sell...
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3 Answers | Asked in Probate for Utah on
Q: Does a person appointed as “attorney-in-fact” have any authority after the one who appointed them dies?

When our mother died, one brother had been appointed “personal representative”, and at the same time I was appointed “attorney-in-fact”. Does the the attorney-in-fact have any authority or say so in the handling of the estate or is it solely up to the personal representative to see that the... View More

Wesley Winsor
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Wesley Winsor
answered on Sep 1, 2023

You are right in your understanding that any power of attorney that has been given by the principal (the person who is giving the authority to an agent) expires upon their death. The reasoning for this, is that you cannot be an agent for a dead person. There is no way to see whether the agent is... View More

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3 Answers | Asked in Probate for Utah on
Q: Does a person appointed as “attorney-in-fact” have any authority after the one who appointed them dies?

When our mother died, one brother had been appointed “personal representative”, and at the same time I was appointed “attorney-in-fact”. Does the the attorney-in-fact have any authority or say so in the handling of the estate or is it solely up to the personal representative to see that the... View More

Kenneth Prigmore
Kenneth Prigmore
answered on Sep 1, 2023

Great question. A Power of Attorney names someone as your Attorney-in-fact. This always ends at death or before. The Power of Attorney is never used after death.

Please note that the Personal Representative of the Estate technically needs to be approved by a judge in Probate Court to have...
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3 Answers | Asked in Probate for Utah on
Q: What state to hire probate attorney?

My wife's family owns a trust in Colorado that produces quarterly oil royalty checks. The checks come from Colorado. Her dad passed 20 years ago so his checks have been going unclaimed in Utah. What state(s) would she need to hire an attorney in order to claim the unclaimed property and to get... View More

Kenneth Prigmore
Kenneth Prigmore
answered on Mar 20, 2023

Great question. If probate is necessary, go with the state of the last residence of the Trustor that created the Trust.

Sometimes probate is not necessary. I recommend discussing your situation with a Utah attorney regarding the checks in Utah. Most attorneys will have a free initial...
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2 Answers | Asked in Estate Planning and Probate for Utah on
Q: My brother was an international attorney in Guam for 40 years until he recently died on May 29th of this year.

My husband, myself, our 2 daughters, and another person are beneficiaries. The supposed trustee is an unlicensed attorney in Guam who is represented by my brothers former law partner. And that guy says we cannot communicate with the trustee at all, but just go through him (the former law partner of... View More

Kenneth Prigmore
Kenneth Prigmore
answered on Oct 19, 2022

Great question! Seeing red flags in a situation like this makes one wonder if your assets are safe.

If your case were in Utah, I could tell you that any time a person has questions or concerns about a trustee of a Trust, they can require that the Trust be overseen by a probate judge....
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1 Answer | Asked in Contracts, Probate and Banking for Utah on
Q: If a child gets a cd in her name, she's the only beneficiary, her grandfather was the trustee, can anyone else get the $

The child and grand father are the only names on the acct. The grandfather opened it in her name when she was a baby after the childs father passed away. The grandfather passes and the only 2 names ever on the acct are the child and the grandfather. Can the grandmother pull out the money without... View More

Wesley Winsor
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Wesley Winsor
answered on Aug 31, 2022

This depends on the ownerhip of the account. If they owned the account as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, then the grandmother would only be able to access the account if she were claiming some spousal share of her husband, but she would first have to go through a court proceeding to get... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Estate Planning and Probate for Utah on
Q: What can I do to ensure that my son's father's assets are properly distributed after his father's recent death?

My 19 year old son's father died 8 days ago, and the mother of the deceased has self-appointed herself executor and claims that the assets need to go to her because her son borrowed money and never repaid her. There was no legal contract for this supposed debt, but she is already trying to... View More

Wesley Winsor
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Wesley Winsor
answered on Feb 24, 2022

If your son wants to assert his authority as personal representative of his father's estate, then he can do so through a probate process. I have pasted the relevant code section below. In addition, if your son doesn't want to do it, he can nominate you serve as his father's... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Probate for Utah on
Q: My dad passed away in 2005 and he left when I was born so I had never met him no clue if there was a will or not and I

Noticed that in his obituary it had listed 3 children which are three sisters I never knew about and not me not sure what to do.

Wesley Winsor
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Wesley Winsor
answered on Jan 3, 2022

Hello,

I am not sure about your question. What is it that you want to do? If you have an interest in trying to collect from your Dad' s estate, you would first need to see if a probate action was filed. I would look in the district where your Dad last resided. It would be an uphill...
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2 Answers | Asked in Probate for Utah on
Q: My husband's brother died no will. But a forgery has appeared in the hands of his business partner. He had no children.

His wife has been dead a while. You can see the document is fake. There are 8 siblings alive, one is his wife's sister. There's a 10-acre parcel that half belongs to the deceased wife. Do we give her half to her sister? We already know the greedy Will forger won't prevail. Just want... View More

Kenneth Prigmore
Kenneth Prigmore
answered on Dec 20, 2021

When you have property left in the name of someone who has died, the only way to transfer that property is to do either a probate or get an Order Determining Heirs. If you have a Will, you normally do a probate. If you have no will, or if it has been over 3 years since death, you will need an Order... View More

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2 Answers | Asked in Arbitration / Mediation Law, Probate and Estate Planning for Utah on
Q: How do I get a tax id number on my family trust I'm trying to collect on a annuity and don't have the actual trust
Kenneth Prigmore
Kenneth Prigmore
answered on Aug 23, 2021

Your best answer depends on a few things that an attorney would need to discuss with you. If you don't have a copy of the Trust, you need help proving your authority as the Trustee. If you are the creator of the Trust, you can always sign an updated version of the Trust. If you are an heir and... View More

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1 Answer | Asked in Estate Planning, Tax Law and Probate for Utah on
Q: What kind of tax is applicable (estate or income) on the dividend distributions made to decedent after his death?

Decedent received dividend distributions after his death. Does Estate have to pay estate tax or income tax?

Wesley Winsor
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Wesley Winsor
answered on Aug 13, 2021

Hi, dividend income would be considered income tax. The estate tax has to deal with the total amount of value passing from the decedent to others. So, it can be counted as both--income when received by the estate and an amount chipping away at the estate tax exemption credit. Most people are not... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Estate Planning, Tax Law and Probate for Utah on
Q: Is cash in the savings account of the non resident alien decedent taxable by the federal estate tax?

IRS states as follows in their website

The property includible in the U.S.-situated gross estate for a nonresident not a citizen includes only assets “situated” in the United States, such as:

1. U.S. real estate,

2. All tangible property located in the United States,... View More

Wesley Winsor
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Wesley Winsor
answered on Aug 13, 2021

Cash is considered tangible personal property. In your case, money held in the bank would either be deemed "cash" or "intangible" property.

I hope this helps.

1 Answer | Asked in Animal / Dog Law, Estate Planning and Probate for Utah on
Q: My neighbor, a close friend, asked me to take his dog when he died. He died of cancer last week.

When he was alive, he told me that he put his dog in his will and specifically told me that it was important (he was acting very cryptic and secretive about it). His estranged wife keeps asking me if I'm going to keep her. I told her yes, and that I suspected my friend (her estranged husband)... View More

Wesley Winsor
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Wesley Winsor
answered on Apr 26, 2021

If you are to receive his dog (which is deemed "property") then you are a beneficiary of the will. As such, you are entitled to see the Will unless the Will says otherwise (something like, no beneficiary is entitled to a copy of the will and will be subject to judicial review only).... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Estate Planning, Probate and Securities Law for Utah on
Q: What are my chances to force a publicly traded company to lift the restrictions on stock in the court I have inherited

I am about to inherit restricted stocks from my father who was an insider in the company. I dont know what the restrictions are exactly yet, but whatever they are, can I and how likely can I succeed to force the company to lift those restrictions in the court?

Do they need to have... View More

Wesley Winsor
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Wesley Winsor
answered on Feb 3, 2021

Hello,

That questions is difficult to answer. If your Dad died while working at the company, perhaps the stock will come restriction free. Usually restrictions are in place to prevent insider trading, so if there is no chance at insider trading anymore, they may lift them. Other...
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1 Answer | Asked in Probate for Utah on
Q: My husband's mother died 30 years ago and whoever's is handling his inheritance there procrastinating on giving details.

They won't give him any details on how much it is or how long it's going to take them to get it to us. I mean 30 years, its been long enough can you help us what are the laws. They finally got ahold of him because of ottit

Wesley Winsor
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Wesley Winsor
answered on Jan 26, 2021

The first thing you should try to do is to get a hold of the estate docs. The Will and/or Trust. These documents will speak to your right to demand an accounting or other information. If they don't then you will be looking to the Utah Probate code or Utah Trust code to see if you have rights... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Probate and Estate Planning for Utah on
Q: I lost my step dad a month ago and 1 of 3 daughter's took everything. There was no Wil. How can I get my sharej

He married my mom about 25 years ago and they divorced. He never adopted us girls but was are father. My sister took everything. He always insisted there was a Wil and it disappeared. How can I get my share and how is it legal she can take it all. Its so unfair cause me and my father was the... View More

Kenneth Prigmore
Kenneth Prigmore
answered on Sep 30, 2020

You are legally considered someone's descendant if they were your birth parent or they adopted you. If you are not a descendant, you can only inherit if they leave behind something stating that you are the intended heir. If your sister is the only living descendant of your stepfather, and... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Estate Planning, Civil Litigation, Insurance Defense and Probate for Utah on
Q: Life Insurance is asking for prescription list, autopsy and toxicology reports. How do I obtain these if Im not related?

BF died of drug intoxication. Insurance is asking for prescription list, autopsy and toxicology. We were not married how do I obtain these? I doubt his family will help me obtain one.

Kenneth Prigmore
Kenneth Prigmore
answered on Sep 8, 2020

Obtain some sort of official demand from the life insurance company and give a copy to the sources of the documents you need. This may work.

Attorneys can normally obtain these items with a letter saying they need it for their client to obtain insurance.

If neither of these work,...
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1 Answer | Asked in Estate Planning and Probate for Utah on
Q: Is there public record of Family Trusts?If so where would such documents be located?

THE MURPHY FAMILY TRUST

Lane Wood
Lane Wood
answered on Aug 29, 2020

There is no public database where trusts are recorded. Trusts are generally kept private. If you know who prepared the trust, you may want to call them as they may still have a copy of it.

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