An estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah residents hire builds a will, a trust, a financial power of attorney, and a health care directive that satisfy the Utah Uniform Probate Code, then titles the assets so a Washington County family avoids probate in the Fifth District Court in St. George. Two Utah statutes were rewritten in 2024 and 2026, so most older Utah plans now cite repealed law.
Last updated: August 2026
Key Takeaways
- Utah replaced its advance health care directive law on January 1, 2026. The old form at Utah Code 75-2a-117 is repealed, and the current optional form is Section 75A-9-110. If your directive was drafted before 2024, it names a statute that no longer exists.
- Utah power of attorney law also moved, from Title 75 Chapter 9 to Title 75A Chapter 2, effective September 1, 2024. Utah requires a notary and zero witnesses under Section 75A-2-105.
- A Hurricane estate under $100,000 in personal property, with no real estate, can often skip probate entirely using the small estate affidavit in Section 75-3-1201, available 30 days after death.
- A Hurricane house does not qualify for that affidavit. Real property needs a trust, a recorded transfer on death deed, joint ownership with survivorship, or probate.
- Utah has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax. The federal exclusion is $15,000,000 per person for 2026, so almost no Washington County estate owes federal estate tax.
- Probate in Utah must generally be opened within three years of death under Section 75-3-107. Miss it and the law presumes the decedent died intestate.
What an Estate Planning Lawyer Hurricane Utah Families Hire Actually Does
Estate planning in Hurricane is a titling problem before it is a drafting problem. Documents control what happens to assets the documents can reach. Anything that already has a beneficiary, a joint owner, or a recorded transfer instruction passes outside the will entirely, and no amount of careful will drafting overrides it.
That is the practical work. An estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah clients bring their situation to will inventory what you own, check how each item is titled, decide which assets should pass by contract, which by deed, which by trust, and which are left to the will, and then draft the paperwork that matches. A plan that skips the titling step produces a beautiful binder and a probate case anyway.
Hurricane sits in Washington County, at the eastern edge of the St. George metropolitan area, with a 2020 census population of 20,036. That location matters more than it sounds. Probate for a Hurricane resident is filed in the Fifth District Court, which covers Beaver, Iron, and Washington counties, and the Washington County courthouse sits at 206 West Tabernacle, Suite 100, in St. George. Real property in Hurricane is recorded with the Washington County Recorder, not with a court.
The four documents an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah residents hire will build
| Document | Governing Utah law | Execution requirement | What it controls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last will and testament | Utah Code 75-2-502 | Writing, signed by you, signed by at least two witnesses | Probate assets only, plus guardian nomination for minors |
| Revocable living trust | Utah Uniform Trust Code, Title 75 Chapter 7 | Signed, then funded by retitling assets into it | Everything actually transferred into it |
| Financial power of attorney | Utah Code 75A-2-105 | Signed and notarized, no witnesses required | Financial decisions during your lifetime only |
| Advance health care directive | Utah Code 75A-9-107 | Signed, one adult witness, no notary required | Medical decisions and your treatment instructions |
Notice how different the signing rules are. A financial power of attorney needs a notary and no witnesses. A health care directive needs one witness and no notary. A will needs two witnesses. Signing all four at one kitchen table with one notary and one neighbor is a common do it yourself mistake, and it is exactly the kind of defect an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah families work with is hired to prevent.
Two Utah Law Changes Every Estate Planning Lawyer Hurricane Utah Clients Meet Should Raise
This is the single most useful thing to know before you reread your own binder. Utah did not merely amend these laws. It moved them into a new title and renumbered every section, which means the citations printed inside your existing documents point at nothing.
Health care directives were rebuilt on January 1, 2026
Senate Bill 134 from the 2025 general session repealed Utah’s Advance Health Care Directive Act and enacted the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act at Title 75A, Chapter 9, effective January 1, 2026. The old statutory form lived at 75-2a-117, was renumbered to 75A-3-303 in 2024, and was then repealed outright. The current optional form is Section 75A-9-110, and it runs Parts A through F where the old one ran Parts I through IV.
The substantive changes are worth knowing:
- Under Section 75A-9-107(4), naming a health care agent requires a record, your signature, and the signature of one adult witness. No notary.
- The witness disqualification list shrank from eight categories to three. The witness cannot be your agent, the agent’s spouse or cohabitant, or facility staff if you live in or receive care at a nursing home or assisted living facility.
- Relatives and heirs may now serve as witnesses. The prior law barred them, which is why so many older Utah directives were witnessed by acquaintances.
- Section 75A-9-107(5) expressly allows remote witnessing by real time audio-video, or audio only if identity is known or authenticated.
- Under Section 75A-9-106, written health care instructions standing alone need no witness at all. The witness requirement attaches only to naming an agent.
- Section 75A-9-114(4) automatically revokes a spouse’s appointment as agent upon a filing or decree of divorce, annulment, or legal separation.
- Sections 75A-9-128 and 75A-9-129 preserve pre-2026 directives that were valid when made, but the new chapter governs going forward.
Power of attorney law moved in 2024
Utah’s Uniform Power of Attorney Act moved from Title 75, Chapter 9 to Title 75A, Chapter 2 effective September 1, 2024, and was amended again in the 2025 session. Any Utah power of attorney citing a 75-9-xxx section is describing relocated law. Three provisions in the current act get underused, and an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah clients consult should be raising all three:
- Section 75A-2-105(1)(c) states that the principal need not understand how the agent will actually manage their affairs. The capacity bar is lower than families assume, which matters enormously with early dementia.
- Section 75A-2-120(2)(c) bars a financial institution from demanding that you use its own in-house form instead of your statutory power of attorney.
- Section 75A-2-108(2) requires a court to consider whether an existing power of attorney already makes a conservatorship unnecessary.
If you already have one in place, our guide on who to name as power of attorney in Utah walks through choosing the right agent rather than the closest relative.
How Utah Probate Works for a Hurricane Estate
Probate is the part of the job clients least expect to pay for, so an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah families retain will usually explain the process backward: here is what your survivors will face if we do nothing, and here is what each planning tool removes from that list.
Probate is the court process that moves title from a dead person to a living one, and avoiding it is the measurable result an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah families hire is paid to produce. Utah runs the Uniform Probate Code at Title 75, which offers an informal track that is largely paperwork and a formal track that is litigation.
Informal probate is handled by a court registrar without a hearing. Formal testacy proceedings under Section 75-3-401 are actual litigation over whether a valid will exists. Most Washington County estates run informally unless someone contests something. Our Utah probate guide covering process, costs, and timeline lays out the full sequence, and the 2026 Utah probate law update tracks what changed this year.
The deadlines that actually bind
| Deadline | Period | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Wait before using a small estate affidavit | 30 days after death | 75-3-1201 |
| Creditors may petition for appointment as personal representative | 45 days after death | 75-3-203(1)(f) |
| Creditor claims after published notice | 3 months from first publication | 75-3-801(1) |
| Creditor claims after mailed notice | The later of 90 days from publication or 60 days from mailing | 75-3-801(2) |
| Outer bar on claims that arose before death | 1 year after death | 75-3-803(1)(a) |
| Lawsuits the decedent could have brought | Not sooner than 12 months after death, then barred | 75-3-108 |
| Claims against transfer on death deed property | 12 months after death | 75-6-415(3) |
| Ultimate limit to open probate or contest testacy | 3 years after death | 75-3-107(1) |
The three year outer limit is the one that ruins families. If nobody opens probate within three years of death, Utah presumes intestacy and the will generally cannot be probated. Hurricane families who put off dealing with a parent’s house because nobody wanted to fight about it discover this the hard way, usually when they try to sell.
A published notice to creditors must run once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and it starts a three month bar on claims.
Who gets appointed personal representative
Section 75-3-203 sets a strict priority order: the person named in the probated will, then a surviving spouse who is also a devisee, then other devisees, then the surviving spouse, then other heirs, and finally, 45 days after death, any creditor. Naming a personal representative in your will is what keeps that list from running its course.
Keeping a Hurricane Property Out of Probate
This is where an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah homeowners consult earns the fee, because the answer depends on facts a form will never ask about.
Real estate is the reason most Washington County estates end up in court, and it is the first thing an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah homeowners meet with will ask about. Bank accounts have payable on death designations. Retirement accounts have beneficiaries. Life insurance has beneficiaries. A house has a deed, and a deed does not update itself.
There are four ways to move a Hurricane house without probate, and an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah homeowners consult will pick between them based on the mortgage, the family structure, and whether Medicaid planning is in play. Our article on how to keep your home out of probate compares them in depth, and what happens to real estate in Utah probate explains the alternative if you do nothing.
Utah’s transfer on death deed
Utah adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act at Title 75, Chapter 6, Part 4, applicable to transferors dying on or after May 8, 2018. It is the cheapest probate avoidance tool Utah offers for a single property, and it has sharp edges:
- Under Section 75-6-409, the deed must contain the formalities of a recordable deed, state that transfer occurs at your death, and be recorded before your death in the county where the property sits. For Hurricane, that means the Washington County Recorder.
- Section 75-6-405(2) prohibits class gifts. You cannot leave it to “my children” as a group. Name each beneficiary.
- Section 75-6-412 says the deed has no effect during your life. It does not create any interest in the beneficiary, does not limit your right to sell or mortgage, does not shield the property from your creditors, and does not affect anyone’s eligibility for public assistance.
- Section 75-6-411 permits revocation only by a recorded instrument. Tearing up the deed does nothing.
- Section 75-6-415 makes the transferred property reachable for estate creditor claims and statutory allowances if the probate estate falls short, with a 12 month window to bring that proceeding.
When a trust beats a deed, and when an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah clients hire will say you do not need one
A transfer on death deed handles one parcel and one clean set of adult beneficiaries. A revocable living trust handles multiple properties, minor beneficiaries, a beneficiary with creditor problems, a beneficiary receiving needs based benefits, staged distributions, and incapacity during your lifetime, which a deed does nothing about.
Trusts also fail routinely, and always for the same reason: nobody funds them. A signed trust that owns nothing controls nothing, and the assets go through probate exactly as if the trust never existed. Read how to fund a trust in Utah before you sign one, not after.
The small estate affidavit
Section 75-3-1201 lets a successor collect personal property by sworn affidavit if the entire estate subject to administration, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000, if 30 days have passed since death, and if no personal representative has been appointed or applied for anywhere. Water shares are excluded, and the statute has separate handling for vehicles.
What it cannot do is transfer real estate. That single limit is why the Hurricane retiree with a paid off house and $40,000 in the bank still needs a plan, and why avoiding probate deliberately is worth the drafting cost.
What Happens If a Hurricane Resident Dies Without a Will
Every estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah residents call has the same first conversation about intestacy, because the default rules almost never match what the family assumed.
Intestacy is Utah’s default will, and an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah families consult will tell you it is a poor fit for most Washington County families, especially blended ones.
Under Section 75-2-102, a surviving spouse takes the entire intestate estate if the decedent left no descendants, or if every surviving descendant is also a descendant of that spouse. But if even one surviving descendant is not the spouse’s descendant, the spouse takes the first $75,000 plus half the balance, and the rest goes to the children.
That is the blended family trap in one sentence. A Hurricane couple in a second marriage, each with children from before, will split the estate under a formula neither of them chose. Our article on estate planning for second marriages covers the fixes.
Section 75-2-103 then runs the remainder in order: descendants per capita at each generation, then parents, then descendants of parents, then grandparents and their descendants split between the paternal and maternal sides. Couples without children should read estate planning for childless couples, because that grandparent split rarely matches intent.
Statutory allowances that come off the top
| Allowance | Amount | Priority | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homestead allowance | $22,500 | Exempt from and prior to all claims | 75-2-402 |
| Exempt property | Up to $15,000 in furniture, vehicles, furnishings, appliances, personal effects | Priority over all claims, abates behind homestead and family allowance | 75-2-403 |
| Family allowance | Reasonable maintenance during administration, capped at one year if the estate cannot pay claims | Prior to all claims except homestead | 75-2-404 |
| Spousal elective share | One third of the augmented estate, with a $75,000 supplemental floor | Elected against the will | 75-2-202 |
The elective share is the reason you cannot fully disinherit a Utah spouse by will alone. A surviving spouse of a decedent domiciled in Utah may elect one third of the augmented estate, and if they elect, the homestead allowance, exempt property, and family allowance are charged against that amount rather than added to it.
Wills, Holographic Wills, and the Self-Proving Affidavit
Execution formalities are unglamorous and they are where homemade plans fail, which is the most common reason an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah families find is redoing work rather than starting fresh.
Section 75-2-502 requires a will to be in writing, signed by you or by someone else in your conscious presence at your direction, and signed by at least two witnesses within a reasonable time after witnessing your signature or your acknowledgment of it.
Utah also recognizes holographic wills. A document that fails the two witness rule is still valid if the signature and the material portions are in your own handwriting. This is genuinely useful in an emergency and genuinely dangerous as a plan. Handwritten wills invite contests over what the material portions say, and Section 75-2-502(3) lets extrinsic evidence in to establish testamentary intent, which is another way of saying it lets your family argue about it.
Section 75-2-504 lets you make the will self-proved at signing, with your acknowledgment and the witnesses’ affidavits taken before an officer authorized to administer oaths, under official seal. A self-proved will is admitted without hunting down witnesses years later. Skipping this step costs nothing at signing and costs a lot at probate, which is a fair summary of most estate planning tradeoffs.
Estate Taxes for a Washington County Estate
Clients often open with a tax question. In almost every case an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah residents meet with will move the conversation to income tax basis instead.
Here is the good news an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah clients meet delivers early. Utah does not impose a state estate tax or an inheritance tax. Federal changes phased out the credit for state death taxes, and Utah’s inheritance tax ended after December 31, 2004. There is nothing to file with the Utah State Tax Commission.
The federal basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 per individual for decedents dying and gifts made in 2026, made permanent by Public Law 119-21. The annual gift exclusion stays at $19,000, and the exclusion for gifts to a non-citizen spouse rises to $194,000.
A married Hurricane couple can shield $30,000,000 with portability. In practice this means federal estate tax is not the planning problem for almost anyone in Washington County. Income tax basis is. Assets that pass at death generally receive a stepped up basis, and assets gifted during life generally do not, which is why gifting appreciated Hurricane real estate to your children during your lifetime is usually the wrong move. See estate planning for capital gains taxes and estate planning for property tax reassessment for the tax side.
Planning for Incapacity, Not Just Death
If you take one thing from this page, take this: an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah families engage early is solving a lifetime problem, not just a death problem.
Most Hurricane families call an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah residents recommend only after a death. The harder and more common problem arrives first, when a parent can no longer manage money or medical decisions and no one has authority to act.
Without a valid financial power of attorney and health care directive, the family’s only route is a court guardianship or conservatorship in the Fifth District Court, which costs more than the documents would have, takes months, and puts your parent’s affairs on the public record. Section 75A-2-108(2) is the counterweight, requiring a court to consider whether an existing power of attorney already makes a conservatorship unnecessary. The document has to exist first.
Hurricane’s population skews older than the Utah average, which makes this the most common failure pattern in the county. Related reading: elder law planning, guardianship in southern Utah, and estate planning when you hit 55 in Utah.
Digital assets and business interests an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah owners hire should ask about
Two categories get left out of nearly every do it yourself plan, and an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah business owners retain should raise both unprompted. Digital accounts, cryptocurrency, cloud storage, and online business assets need express authority granted to your fiduciary, which our Utah digital asset estate planning guide covers. And if you own a Hurricane business, an LLC membership interest or closely held stock is an estate asset that can freeze the moment you die. Business succession in estate administration explains how the operating agreement and the estate plan have to agree.
What an Estate Planning Lawyer Hurricane Utah Charges, and What Drives the Price
Utah estate planning is usually flat fee work, and the price is driven by how many moving parts your situation has rather than by hours. Fee ranges vary by firm, so treat the structure below as the framework to ask about rather than a quote.
| Package | What it usually includes | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Will based package | Will, financial power of attorney, advance health care directive, guardian nomination | Renters, young families, and Hurricane owners whose home already passes by deed or survivorship |
| Will package plus transfer on death deed | The above, plus a recorded deed under Title 75 Chapter 6 Part 4 | One Hurricane parcel, competent adult beneficiaries, no Medicaid concerns |
| Funded revocable trust package | Trust, pour over will, powers of attorney, deeds, beneficiary coordination, funding assistance | Multiple properties, minors, blended families, staged distributions, incapacity risk |
| Probate administration | Court filings, creditor notice, inventory, distribution, closing statement | Families who already lost the chance to plan ahead |
Two questions separate a real quote from a brochure. First, does the fee include retitling and deed recording, or does the estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah clients hire hand over a funding letter and leave the work to you? Second, what does an amendment cost later? A plan you cannot afford to update is a plan that goes stale, and Utah has renumbered two relevant chapters since 2024.
The Hurricane Utah estate planning checklist
Work through this before your first meeting. It is the same intake an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah residents hire will run, and doing it in advance shortens the engagement.
- List every asset with how it is titled: sole name, joint with survivorship, tenants in common, trust, or beneficiary designation.
- Pull the current beneficiary designations on every retirement account, annuity, and life insurance policy. Stale beneficiaries override your will.
- Check whether your Hurricane deed already says joint tenants with right of survivorship, which changes the recommendation entirely.
- Identify anyone who receives needs based benefits, because an outright gift to them can cost them coverage.
- Decide who handles money, who handles medical decisions, and who raises minor children. These are frequently three different people.
- Locate the originals of any existing will, trust, powers of attorney, and directives, and note the dates. Anything signed before September 2024 needs a citation review.
- Note any business interest, and whether the operating agreement restricts transfer at death.
Choosing an Estate Planning Lawyer Hurricane Utah Residents Can Work With
Fit matters more than credentials past a baseline. When you interview an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah has available, ask these questions:
- Which Utah statutes govern my health care directive and my power of attorney, and when were they last renumbered? A lawyer still citing 75-2a-117 or 75-9-xxx is working from stale forms.
- Will you retitle my assets, or hand me a funding letter and wish me luck? Unfunded trusts are the most expensive drafting failure in this practice area.
- Is a transfer on death deed enough for my situation, or do I need a trust? An honest answer is sometimes the cheaper one.
- What is your flat fee, and what does it include? Estate planning is well suited to flat fees, and hourly billing for a standard package is a warning sign.
- Who reviews this in five years, and what triggers a review? Marriage, divorce, a death, a move to or from Utah, a new child, a business sale, and a statutory rewrite all trigger one.
Looking for an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah residents can reach without a drive to Salt Lake? Jeremy Eveland works with clients across Utah, including Washington County, and handles the same planning for residents of nearby cities. See related local pages on Utah estate planning, Utah probate representation, estate planning in Erda, and the general probate attorney and probate process overviews. If a trust dispute is already underway, see Utah trust litigation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah charge?
Most Utah estate planning is flat fee, and an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah residents hire should quote it that way. A simple will based package with a power of attorney and health care directive sits at the low end, and a funded revocable trust package costs several times that. Ask for the fee in writing, and ask specifically whether asset retitling is included or billed separately.
Do I file probate in Hurricane or in St. George?
Washington County probate is filed with the Fifth District Court, which sits at 206 West Tabernacle, Suite 100, St. George, UT 84770. The Fifth District covers Beaver, Iron, and Washington counties. There is no separate probate court in Hurricane.
Is a handwritten will valid in Utah?
Yes. Utah Code 75-2-502(2) validates a holographic will, witnessed or not, if the signature and the material portions of the document are in the testator’s handwriting. It is a legitimate emergency measure and a poor permanent plan, because it invites disputes about what the material portions actually mean.
Does my old Utah advance directive still work in 2026?
Sections 75A-9-128 and 75A-9-129 preserve directives that were valid when they were made, so an old one is not void. But the new chapter governs going forward, the form changed, and the witness rules loosened. If yours predates 2024, have it reviewed and reexecuted under Section 75A-9-110.
What is the small estate limit in Utah?
Section 75-3-1201 sets it at $100,000 for the entire estate subject to administration, less liens and encumbrances, measured wherever the property is located. You must wait 30 days after death, and no personal representative can have been appointed or applied for. The affidavit reaches personal property only, never real estate.
Can a transfer on death deed leave my Hurricane house to all my children?
Only if you name each child individually. Section 75-6-405(2) prohibits class gifts, so a deed leaving property to “my children” as a group fails. The deed must also be recorded with the Washington County Recorder before you die, under Section 75-6-409.
How long does a family have to open probate in Utah?
Three years from the date of death under Section 75-3-107, with narrow exceptions for uncertain death and missing persons. After that, Utah presumes intestacy and the will generally cannot be probated, which frequently surfaces when the family tries to sell inherited real estate.
Does Utah have an estate tax or inheritance tax?
No. Utah’s inheritance tax ended after December 31, 2004, when the federal credit for state death taxes was phased out. Only the federal estate tax applies, and the 2026 exclusion is $15,000,000 per person, so very few Washington County estates are affected.
Do I need a trust, or is a will enough for a Hurricane family?
A will alone is enough if your only significant asset is a home you can pass by recorded transfer on death deed, and your beneficiaries are competent adults. A trust earns its cost when there are multiple properties, minor beneficiaries, a beneficiary on needs based benefits, staged distributions, or a real risk of incapacity.
Who becomes personal representative if the will does not name one?
Section 75-3-203 sets the order: the person named in the will, then a surviving spouse who is a devisee, then other devisees, then the surviving spouse, then other heirs, and 45 days after death, any creditor. Naming someone in your will is what keeps that list from running.
Need an estate planning lawyer Hurricane Utah residents can talk to today, or dealing with a Washington County estate after a death? A short conversation usually tells you whether you need a trust, a deed, or nothing at all.
Call attorney Jeremy Eveland at (801) 613-1472 or visit jeremyeveland.com to discuss your situation.
This article is general information about Utah law as of August 2026, not legal advice. Statutes change, and Utah renumbered two of the chapters discussed here within the last two years. Reading this does not create an attorney-client relationship.