A conservatorship in Utah takes nothing away from a person’s legal capacity. Section 75-5-408(2) says so directly: an order determining that a basis for appointment exists “has no effect on the capacity of the protected person.” What it does do is move title. Section 75-5-420(1) vests in the conservator fiduciary title to all the protected person’s property, present and later acquired, including property previously held by an attorney-in-fact. Trust assets are the one thing it cannot reach.
Last updated: September 2026
Key Takeaways
- A conservatorship covers property. A guardianship covers the person. They are separate proceedings.
- An order appointing a conservator has no effect on the protected person’s legal capacity.
- Fiduciary title to the property vests in the conservator, but trust assets are excluded.
- Bond is required unless the court dispenses with it for good cause, the opposite of the rule for a guardian.
- A complete sworn inventory is due within 90 days of appointment.
- An approved intermediate accounting adjudicates liability for the matters it covers, so objections cannot wait.
- Section 75-5-409 lets a court approve one transaction, or establish a trust, without appointing anyone.
- Jeremy Eveland builds Utah estate plans for $1,500 (will-based) or $3,500 (trust-based), quoted before work begins.
When a Conservatorship in Utah Is Available
Section 75-5-401 supplies two separate grounds.
For a minor, Subsection (1)(a) applies where the court determines the minor owns money or property requiring management or protection that cannot otherwise be provided, has or may have business affairs jeopardized or prevented by minority, or needs funds for support and education. Minority itself is the disability; there is nothing else to prove. Subsection (1)(b) lets the court extend those provisions “to a person beyond minority up to age 21 under special circumstances.”
For an adult, Subsection (2) requires two findings: that the person is unable to manage property and affairs effectively “for reasons such as mental illness, mental deficiency, physical illness or disability, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication, confinement, detention by a foreign power, or disappearance,” and that they have property which will be wasted or dissipated without management, or that funds are needed for support.
Two items on that list have nothing to do with the mind. Confinement and disappearance both qualify, so a conservatorship in Utah is available for someone whose judgment is entirely intact but who cannot be reached.
Section 75-5-403 puts venue in the county where the person to be protected resides, or, if they do not reside in Utah, in any county where they have property. Section 75-5-405(1) requires personal service on the person and their spouse, or if none their parents, at least 10 days before the hearing where they can be found in state.
The Capacity Point
This is the difference that should drive the choice between the two proceedings.
An order made pursuant to this section determining that a basis for appointment of a conservator or other protective order exists has no effect on the capacity of the protected person.
A protected person remains legally competent. They can still vote, still marry, still sign a will. Compare Section 75-5-304(1), which requires the court to find by clear and convincing evidence that a person is incapacitated before appointing a guardian. Where the problem is purely financial, a conservatorship is both easier to prove and far less damaging to the person you are trying to help. The comparison is worked through in the Utah guardianship guide.
Title Moves
Section 75-5-420(1) provides that appointment “vests in the conservator title as fiduciary to all property of the protected person, presently held or thereafter acquired, not including the assets of a trust, including title to any property previously held for the protected person by custodians or attorneys-in-fact,” except property held under a uniform gifts to minors act.
Three consequences follow. Letters of conservatorship can be recorded against land under Section 75-5-421(1) to give record notice of title. Property already held by an agent under a power of attorney comes over, which is how a conservatorship supersedes an agent in practice. And trust assets are excluded, which is the strongest planning argument there is for funding a trust before capacity becomes an issue.
Section 75-5-420(2) adds that appointment “is not a transfer or alienation” for purposes of any statute, regulation, insurance policy, pension plan, contract, will, or trust instrument that restricts or penalizes transfer, so a conservatorship does not itself trigger a due-on-transfer or forfeiture clause.
Section 75-5-421(2) protects the conservator’s authority: a person who refuses to accept it after receiving a certified copy of the letters is liable for costs, expenses, attorney fees, and damages if the court determines the refusal was not in good faith.
Who Gets Appointed
Section 75-5-410(1) lets the court appoint an individual or a corporation with general power to serve as trustee, and its priority list is ordered differently from the one used for guardians:
- a conservator, guardian of property, or like fiduciary appointed or recognized in another jurisdiction where the protected person resides;
- an individual or corporation nominated by a protected person 14 or older with sufficient mental capacity to make an intelligent choice;
- the protected person’s most recent written, signed nomination, for which the statute prints a form;
- a person nominated by other means if the protected person was 14 or older;
- the spouse;
- an adult child;
- a parent, or a person nominated by a deceased parent’s will;
- a relative the person lived with for more than six months before the petition; and
- a person nominated by whoever is caring for them or paying benefits.
Subsection (2) lets several of those tiers nominate a substitute in writing, requires the court to pick the best qualified among equals, and allows the court to pass over priority for good cause.
A power of attorney can carry the nomination. Section 75A-2-108(1) lets a principal nominate a conservator for the court’s consideration, and Subsection (3) requires the court to appoint accordingly “unless there is good cause shown or disqualification.”
Bond, Inventory, Accounting
| Duty | Rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Bond | Required unless the court dispenses with it for good cause | 75-5-411 |
| Bond amount | Capital value plus a year’s income, less restricted assets and unsaleable land | 75-5-411 |
| Inventory | Complete and sworn, within 90 days; trust assets excluded | 75-5-418(1) |
| Copy of the inventory | To the protected person if 14 or older and able to understand it | 75-5-418(2) |
| Records | Produced on the request of any interested person | 75-5-418(3) |
| Annual report | Full accounting above $50,000 excluding the residence, informal below | 75-5-417(2) |
| Standard of care | Fiduciary, per Section 75B-2-902 of the Uniform Trust Code | 75-5-417(1) |
| Penalty | Up to $5,000 plus restitution, paid personally, never from the estate | 75-5-417(5) |
The bond rule is the reverse of the guardian rule. Section 75-5-105 says a guardian “may be required” to furnish a bond. Section 75-5-411 says the court “shall require a conservator to furnish a bond … unless the court dispenses with such bond for good cause shown.”
Section 75-5-417(6) exempts a conservator who is the ward’s parent from the annual report provisions and their penalties entirely.
One deadline is not on any calendar. Section 75-5-419(3) provides that an order allowing an intermediate account, made upon notice and hearing, “adjudicates as to any liabilities concerning the matters considered,” and a final account order adjudicates all previously unsettled liabilities. An accounting nobody objects to closes the door on the transactions it covers.
What a Conservator Can Do
Section 75-5-424(1) gives a conservator “all of the powers conferred in this chapter and any additional powers conferred by law on trustees in this state,” then adds a long enumerated list. Subsection (3) permits investing and reinvesting without court authorization as a trustee would. The enumerated powers include collecting and retaining assets, continuing a business, acquiring or disposing of property including land in another state, leasing, subdividing and developing, granting options, voting securities, and making repairs or alterations.
Subsection (2)(a) adds a useful investigative power: a conservator may compel production of the protected person’s estate documents, “including the protected person’s will, trust, power of attorney, and any advance health care directives,” and Subsection (2)(b) requires sharing them with any guardian.
Spending is governed by Section 75-5-425(1), which permits distribution for support, education, care, or benefit without court authorization, with due regard to the size of the estate, the probable duration, the accustomed standard of living, and other available funds. Subsection (1)(a) requires the conservator to consider a parent’s or guardian’s recommendations and protects them from surcharge for following those recommendations, unless the conservator knows the parent is deriving a personal financial benefit, “including relief from any personal duty of support.”
Two limits are worth noting. Subsection (2) caps charitable and similar gifts at 20% of a year’s income, and applies only “for a protected person other than a minor,” so a minor’s estate makes no gifts at all. And Subsection (3) requires that when a minor who has not been adjudged disabled reaches majority, the conservator “shall pay over and distribute all funds and properties to the former protected person as soon as possible.” There is no authority to hold it longer, which is why a trust is usually the better answer for a child’s money.
What the Court Can Do Without Appointing Anyone
A conservatorship in Utah is not the only protective order available.
Section 75-5-409(1) lets the court, “without appointing a conservator,” authorize, direct, or ratify any transaction necessary or desirable to achieve a security, service, or care arrangement, including payment or delivery of funds, a sale, mortgage, lease, or other transfer, an annuity contract, a contract for life care, a deposit contract, a contract for training and education, or “addition to or establishment of a suitable trust.” Subsection (3) lets the court appoint a special conservator solely to complete the transaction.
Section 75-5-408(1)(a) adds an emergency power: while a petition is pending, after a preliminary hearing and without notice to others, the court may preserve and apply the property as required for the person’s benefit or their dependents’. That is the fastest way to stop money from moving.
Section 75-5-408(1)(c) then describes the sweep of the court’s authority once a basis exists: all the powers over the estate the person could exercise if present and not under disability, except the power to make a will. That includes making gifts, releasing survivorship rights, creating revocable or irrevocable trusts, changing insurance and annuity beneficiaries, exercising an elective share in a deceased spouse’s estate, and renouncing interests. Subsection (1)(d) requires notice, a hearing, and a best-interests finding before gifts exceeding 20% of a year’s income, beneficiary changes, renunciations, or releases of powers of appointment.
Conflicts, Removal, and Ending It
Section 75-5-422 makes any sale or encumbrance to the conservator, the conservator’s spouse, agent, or attorney, or any corporation or trust in which the conservator has a substantial beneficial interest, or any transaction affected by a substantial conflict of interest, voidable unless approved by the court after notice.
Section 75-5-415(1) lets the court remove a conservator “for good cause, upon notice and hearing,” or accept a resignation, and appoint a successor who “succeeds to the title and powers of the preceding conservator.” Subsection (2) requires the same safeguards used for an original appointment, except that counsel is not required where the case is uncontested and capacity is not at issue.
Section 75-5-416(1) lets any person interested in the protected person’s welfare petition for additional or reduced bond, an accounting, distribution, removal and a temporary or successor conservator, or other appropriate relief, “including any relief available under Title 75B, Chapter 2, Uniform Trust Code, if the protected person is a grantor, settlor, trustor, or beneficiary of a trust.” Subsection (2) lets the conservator petition for instructions.
Section 75-5-430 governs termination. The protected person, their personal representative, the conservator, or any other interested person may petition, and a protected person seeking termination “is entitled to the same rights and procedures as in an original proceeding.” On termination, “title to assets of the estate passes to the former protected person or to his successors.”
Avoiding One
Three tools keep property out of a conservatorship.
- A durable power of attorney. Read two provisions together. Section 75-5-401(3) says an appointment “may not be denied solely on the basis” that a valid power of attorney exists, so it is not an automatic bar. But Section 75A-2-108(2) requires the court, on a conservatorship petition, to “consider whether the provisions in the power of attorney are adequate to manage and protect the principal’s estate without appointing a conservator.” Section 75A-2-108(4) adds that if a conservator is appointed anyway, the power of attorney “is not terminated and the agent’s authority continues unless limited, suspended, or terminated by the court.” See the power of attorney overview.
- A funded trust. Section 75-5-418(1) excludes trust assets from the estate, and Section 75-5-420(1) excludes them from the property to which title vests. See how to fund a trust in Utah. Where the beneficiary has a disability, a special needs trust also protects benefits.
- A single protective arrangement. Section 75-5-409, above, where the whole problem is one house or one settlement.
The person-side proceeding is covered on the guardianship overview, the planning documents in the Utah estate planning guide, and disputes involving a trust in the trust litigation guide. Representation is available statewide through the guardianship lawyer directory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a conservatorship in Utah?
A court appointment under Title 75, Chapter 5, Part 4, giving one person authority to manage another’s property. It is separate from a guardianship, which covers the person rather than the estate.
Does a conservatorship mean the person is incompetent?
No. Section 75-5-408(2) provides that an order determining a basis for appointment “has no effect on the capacity of the protected person.” Only a guardianship rests on a finding of incapacity.
Does the conservator own the property?
As a fiduciary, yes. Section 75-5-420(1) vests title as fiduciary in all the protected person’s property, present and later acquired, including property previously held by an attorney-in-fact, but not trust assets.
Is a bond required?
Usually. Section 75-5-411 requires the court to order one unless it dispenses with the bond for good cause, in the amount of the estate’s capital value plus a year’s estimated income, less restricted assets.
When is the inventory due?
Within 90 days of appointment under Section 75-5-418(1), sworn as complete and accurate, with a copy to the protected person if 14 or older and able to understand it. Trust assets are excluded.
Does a power of attorney prevent one?
Not automatically. Section 75-5-401(3) says appointment may not be denied solely because a valid power of attorney exists, but Section 75A-2-108(2) requires the court to consider whether the document is adequate to manage the estate without a conservator.
What happens to a minor’s money at 18?
It is distributed outright. Section 75-5-425(3) requires the conservator, after paying prior claims and administration expenses, to pay over everything to the former protected person as soon as possible.
Can the court act without appointing a conservator?
Yes. Section 75-5-409 lets the court authorize, direct, or ratify a single transaction or arrangement, including establishing or adding to a suitable trust, and may appoint a special conservator only to complete it.
If the problem is a house, an account, or a benefit check rather than someone’s ability to decide, a conservatorship takes far less from the person than a guardianship does, and sometimes a single court order does the whole job.
Schedule a consultation or call (801) 613-1472. Offices in Lindon and West Jordan, Utah.
This article is general information about Utah law, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutory provisions are current as of the date above.
