Skip to main content
Utah Exempt Property Allowance
Support GuideUtah15 min read

Utah Exempt Property Allowance

Utah exempt property is $22,500 for a 2026 death, not the $15,000 the statute prints. The figure is indexed to the year the person died.

By Settled Editorial

Utah lets a surviving spouse, or the decedent's children where there is no spouse, take a fixed slice of the household property out of an estate before any creditor is paid and before anything passes under the will. For a decedent who died in 2026 that slice is $22,500, measured as value in excess of any security interests on the items selected. Utah Code 75-2-403 is the section, and the figure printed in it is not the figure that applies.

This guide covers the exempt property allowance on its own: the amount for each year of death, what property qualifies, how liens are handled, who may claim it, where it sits against creditors, and how it interacts with the elective share. Utah has two other protections in the same part of the code, and the Utah family allowance guide covers all three together. This is general information, not legal advice.

The Printed Figure Is the 2010 Figure

Utah Code 75-2-403 reads $15,000. Anyone quoting that number is quoting the law as it stood for a person who died in 2010.

Utah Code 75-1-110 indexes five dollar amounts to the CPI-U annual average against a 2009 reference base: the amounts in 75-2-102, 75-2-202(2), 75-2-402, 75-2-403 and 75-2-405. The adjustment uses the index for the calendar year immediately before the year of the decedent's death, rounded down to a multiple of $100 for an increase. Utah Code 75-1-110(3) then requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to publish, before February 1 each year, a cumulative list of every adjusted amount.

That published list is the operative law, and it is the hardest Utah document to find on purpose or by accident. It sits at the Utah State Courts under the title Estate Consumer Price Index, and the page never uses the words homestead, allowance or exempt, so no on-site search on any of those three words reaches it. Its column headers name the section numbers instead.

Read the amount off the year the person DIED, not the year the claim is made.

Year of deathExempt property (75-2-403)
2026$22,500
2025$21,900
2024$21,300
2023$20,500
2022$18,900
2021$17,800
2020$17,600
2019$17,300
2018$17,000
2017$16,700
2016$16,500
2015$16,500
2014$16,200
2013$16,000
2012$15,700
2011$15,200
2010$15,000

One trap is worth naming, because nothing catches it automatically. The 2026 exempt property figure, $22,500, is the same number as the 2010 homestead allowance in 75-2-402. A page or a worksheet that mixes the two eras therefore reads as internally consistent, and only the year label tells them apart.

Need help with your probate case?

Answer a few questions to see whether Utah probate is required and which process applies.

Take the 2-minute assessment

What Qualifies

Utah Code 75-2-403 names the property by category rather than by a list of approved items:

  • Household furniture
  • Automobiles
  • Furnishings
  • Appliances
  • Personal effects

The allowance is a value cap, not an item count. A surviving spouse may select one car worth the whole allowance, or twenty items adding to it.

Liens Come Off First, and Then the Estate Makes Up the Difference

The measure is value in excess of any security interests in the selected property. A $20,000 car with a $14,000 loan against it contributes $6,000, not $20,000.

That rule pairs with a second one that is easy to miss. Where the claimant selects encumbered chattels and their equity plus the value of the other exempt property comes to less than the allowance, or the estate simply does not hold that much household property, the surviving spouse or children are entitled to other assets of the estate to make up the difference. So a 2026 estate whose only household property is $9,000 of equity still yields $22,500, with $13,500 coming out of the bank account or whatever else the estate holds.

The make-up right is the piece that yields when money is short. Utah Code 75-2-403 says the right to other assets abates as necessary so the homestead allowance and the family allowance are paid first.

Who May Claim It

The surviving spouse first. A surviving spouse takes the exempt property allowance whatever the will says.

Then the children, jointly. Where there is no surviving spouse, the decedent's children take the allowance jointly. Note the difference from the homestead allowance in 75-2-402, which a decedent with no surviving spouse splits among the minor and dependent children only. Exempt property carries no age test and no dependency test, so an adult, self-supporting child shares in it.

Who does the selecting. Under Utah Code 75-2-405(1) the surviving spouse, the guardians of minor children, or adult children may select the estate property that satisfies the homestead allowance and exempt property. The personal representative may make the selection instead where those people are unable to or fail to act within a reasonable time, or where a minor child has no guardian, and may execute an instrument or deed of distribution to establish ownership of what was selected.

One limit on what can be selected. If the estate is otherwise sufficient, specifically devised property may not be used to satisfy the homestead allowance or exempt property. The antique clock the will leaves to a named grandchild stays with the grandchild while anything else remains to take.

Where It Sits Against Creditors

Utah Code 75-2-403 gives the right to exempt property, and the right to make-up assets, priority over all claims against the estate. Inside Part 4 the order runs homestead allowance, then family allowance, then the make-up assets for exempt property.

Below the allowances, Utah Code 75-3-805 sets the order in which allowed claims are paid, and Utah's order is not the one most national guidance repeats:

  1. Reasonable funeral expenses
  2. Costs and expenses of administration
  3. Debts and taxes with preference under federal law
  4. Reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, including medical assistance where Utah Code 26B-3-1013 applies
  5. Debts and taxes with preference under other Utah law
  6. All other claims

Reasonable funeral expenses come ahead of the costs and expenses of administration in Utah. A personal representative who pays a lower class while a higher class goes unpaid answers for the difference, so the order is worth reading before writing any cheque. The full sequence is in the Utah debt payment priority guide.

Chargeable Against a Share, Unless the Will Says Otherwise

Unless the will or another governing instrument provides otherwise, the exempt property allowance is chargeable against any benefit or share otherwise passing to the surviving spouse, or to the children where there is no surviving spouse. A spouse who inherits the residue does not receive $22,500 on top of it; the allowance comes out of what they were already taking, and the practical value is the priority rather than the addition.

The three allowances are each in addition to one another, so a surviving spouse may claim the homestead allowance, exempt property and a family allowance together.

Electing Against the Will Changes the Arithmetic

Utah Code 75-2-202(3) charges the homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance against the elective share and supplemental elective share amounts rather than adding them. Utah's elective share is a flat one third of the augmented estate, with a supplemental amount that brings the total up to the indexed 75-2-202(2) figure, which is $112,500 for a 2026 death.

So a surviving spouse deciding whether to elect is choosing between two packages, not adding a second one to the first. Compare the allowances, the elective share, the intestate share and the will's own provisions before filing, and read the deadline carefully: the Utah surviving spouse rights guide covers the nine-month rule that quietly removes the decedent's nonprobate transfers from the pool.

No Claim Deadline, and One Hard Outer Limit

Part 4 of Title 75 Chapter 2 contains no claim period for the homestead allowance, exempt property or family allowance. That is a genuine difference from states such as Colorado, which imposes a six-month window.

The outer limit comes from Utah Code 75-3-107. Probate generally may not be commenced more than three years after the death, and where the court appoints a personal representative after that limit, 75-3-107(4)(b) blocks exempt property, a homestead allowance, a family allowance, a support allowance and an elective share from being presented against the estate. Waiting is therefore safe for a long time and then abruptly is not.

Not the Same Thing as the Utah Homestead Exemption

Two Utah protections share the word homestead and do different jobs.

The homestead allowance in Utah Code 75-2-402 is a probate allowance out of a decedent's estate, $33,700 for a 2026 death, and it sits beside exempt property in Part 4.

The homestead exemption in Utah Code 78B-5-503 is a creditor exemption in a living debtor's primary personal residence, with its own annual adjustment published by the Utah State Auditor rather than by the courts. It is not an estate allowance and it is not indexed by any decedent's year of death.

Which State's Law Applies

Utah Code 75-2-401 applies Part 4 to the estate of a decedent who died domiciled in Utah. For a decedent domiciled elsewhere, the rights to a homestead allowance, exempt property and a family allowance are governed by the law of the domicile at death. Utah real property alone does not carry the Utah allowances with it, which matters for the second-home and out-of-state-parent cases covered in the Utah ancillary probate guide.

The Allowances Set the Summary Administration Floor

Utah Code 75-3-1203 lets a personal representative close an estate without giving notice to creditors at all where the value of the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the sum of the homestead allowance, exempt property, the family allowance, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses, and reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness.

Two of those components are fixed for a given year of death, so a 2026 death starts from $56,200 ($33,700 plus $22,500) and the rest varies with the estate. There is no single dollar figure for that route, which is why it is not the same thing as the $100,000 affidavit. Both routes are set out in the Utah small estate guide.

What to Document

Record the selected assets, their date-of-death values, any security interests against them, the dependency status of anyone claiming as a child, and the claimant's authority to sign. Utah publishes court forms through the Utah State Courts forms finder; no form number is given here because none was confirmed at an official source, and a form number is not something to guess at.

Re-check the figure every January. The Administrative Office of the Courts adds the new row before February 1, and a page still quoting last year's amount is quoting law that no longer applies to a death this year.

When to Call a Utah Attorney

Talk to a licensed Utah attorney where a claimant is a child rather than a spouse and the family disagrees about who takes what, where the estate cannot pay its claims and the abatement order starts to matter, where a surviving spouse is weighing an election against the will, or where the decedent died domiciled outside Utah. The Utah probate without a lawyer guide covers where the line usually falls.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is Utah exempt property in 2026?

For a decedent who died in 2026 the exempt property allowance is $22,500. Utah Code 75-2-403 prints $15,000, but that is the 2010 amount: Utah Code 75-1-110 indexes the section to the CPI by the decedent's year of death, and the Administrative Office of the Courts publishes the operative figure each January in its Estate Consumer Price Index table.

Does Utah exempt property count the car loan?

No. Utah Code 75-2-403 measures the selected property at its value in excess of any security interests, so a $20,000 car carrying a $14,000 loan contributes $6,000 toward the allowance. If the equity in the household property comes to less than the allowance, or the estate does not hold that much of it, the claimant may take other assets of the estate to make up the difference.

Who gets Utah exempt property if there is no surviving spouse?

The decedent's children take it jointly under Utah Code 75-2-403. There is no age or dependency test on the exempt property allowance, which is a difference from the homestead allowance, where a decedent with no surviving spouse divides the amount among the minor and dependent children only.

Does exempt property come ahead of creditors in Utah?

Yes. Utah Code 75-2-403 gives the right to exempt property, and to the assets needed to make up a shortfall, priority over all claims against the estate. The make-up right is the part that gives way: it abates as needed so the homestead allowance and the family allowance are paid first.

Is there a deadline to claim Utah exempt property?

Part 4 of Title 75 Chapter 2 sets no claim window, which is a real difference from states that impose a six-month deadline. The outer limit is Utah Code 75-3-107: probate generally may not be commenced more than three years after the death, and where a personal representative is appointed after that limit, 75-3-107(4)(b) blocks exempt property, a homestead allowance, a family allowance, a support allowance and an elective share from being presented against the estate.

Can a specific gift in the will be taken as exempt property?

Not where the estate holds anything else to satisfy the allowance. Utah Code 75-2-405(1) says specifically devised property may not be used to satisfy the homestead allowance or exempt property if the estate is otherwise sufficient, so the car left to a named person in the will is reached only after the rest of the estate runs out.

Does electing against the will add exempt property on top?

No, it converts it. Utah Code 75-2-202(3) charges the homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance AGAINST the elective share and the supplemental elective share rather than adding them, so a surviving spouse who elects gives up the additive treatment. Compare the allowances, the elective share, the intestate share and what the will already gives before electing.

Related Guides

Sources:

This guide explains the Utah exempt property allowance in general terms. Every figure above is keyed to the decedent's year of death and the Administrative Office of the Courts publishes a new row each January, so confirm the amount for your year with the district court handling the estate or with a licensed Utah attorney. It is not legal advice.

Information current as of August 28, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Utah can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

All Utah guides← Back to all articles

More Utah Resources

Explore the rest of the Utah probate hub.

Do I need probate?5 pages
For the executor5 pages
Money and taxes5 pages
Family and inheritance5 pages
Transfer assets5 pages
File and learn5 pages