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Utah Revocable Living Trust
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Utah Revocable Living Trust

A Utah revocable living trust runs under Title 75B, Chapter 2: how to create one, how to fund it, the pour-over will, and what it will not do.

By Settled Editorial

A Utah revocable living trust holds your property while you live and passes it to the people you name at death with no court case. You stay in control and can change or cancel it whenever you like. It only covers assets you actually retitle into it, which is where most Utah trusts fail.

Utah trust law moved recently and most search results have not caught up. The Utah Uniform Trust Code is Title 75B, Chapter 2, renumbered and amended by Chapter 310 of the 2025 General Session, effective May 7, 2025. Title 75 no longer has a Chapter 7. If a page cites 75-7-401 for creation or 75-7-602 for revocation, it is quoting a chapter that no longer publishes text.

This guide covers what the trust does, what Utah requires to create one, how funding works here, the pour-over will that backs it up, what happens the week after you die, and the honest case against bothering.

What a Utah Revocable Living Trust Does

A revocable living trust is a written agreement that holds assets for your benefit while you are alive, then for your beneficiaries after you die. "Living" means you sign it now rather than creating it through your will. "Revocable" means you can undo it.

Three things follow from that.

You keep control. Utah Code 75B-2-603(1)(a) lets a trustee follow a direction from the settlor that runs contrary to the terms of the trust, so long as the trust is revocable. Section 75B-2-603(2) goes further: while the trust is revocable and you have capacity, the rights of the beneficiaries are subject to your control and the trustee owes duties exclusively to you. Your children have no standing to look at the books while you are alive and competent.

It skips probate for what is inside it. Property titled to the trustee is not part of the probate estate, so your successor trustee takes over without a court appointment. Nothing else about the property changes.

It does nothing for what is outside it. A trust signed and never funded avoids nothing at all. That is the single most common Utah trust failure, and the fix is in the funding section below.

Creating One: What Utah Actually Requires

Utah Code 75B-2-401 gives three methods of creating a trust: transfer of property to another person as trustee during your lifetime or by will, a declaration by the owner of property that the owner holds identifiable property as trustee, or the exercise of a power of appointment in favor of a trustee. Most Utah living trusts use the second one, where you declare that you hold your own property as trustee.

Utah Code 75B-2-402(1) then sets five conditions. A trust is created only if:

  1. the settlor has capacity to create a trust, and the statute states that the standard is the same as the standard for making a will
  2. the settlor indicates an intention to create the trust, or a statute, judgment, or decree authorizes it
  3. the trust has a definite beneficiary, or is a charitable trust, a trust for the care of an animal under 75-2-1001, or a trust for a noncharitable purpose under 75-2-1001
  4. the trustee has duties to perform
  5. the same person is not the sole trustee and sole beneficiary

Read the fifth one twice. A single Utah adult who names herself as sole trustee and sole beneficiary with nobody taking after her has not created a trust. Naming remainder beneficiaries fixes it, and every drafted Utah trust does.

Utah Code 75B-2-601 repeats the capacity rule from the other direction: the capacity required to create, amend, revoke, or add property to a revocable trust, or to direct the trustee, is the same as that required to make a will.

Here is what Utah does not require. Title 75B, Chapter 2 runs to 113 sections and contains no occurrence of notary, notarization, witness, attestation, or trust registration anywhere in the chapter. Utah Code 75B-2-407 says in terms that a trust need not be evidenced by a trust instrument, although an oral trust and its terms can be established only by clear and convincing evidence. Nobody files a Utah living trust with a court, and the Utah Courts filing fee schedule carries no trust registration line.

That is the statute. Signing in front of a notary is still ordinary Utah practice, because banks, brokerages, and title companies ask for it, and because the deed that moves your house into the trust does need a notarial acknowledgment before a county recorder will record it under Utah Code 57-3-101(1). Treat the notary block as the price of getting third parties to cooperate rather than as a condition of validity.

Revocation and Amendment, and the May 1, 2004 Line

Utah Code 75B-2-602(1)(a) says the settlor may revoke or amend the trust unless its terms expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable. Then 75B-2-602(1)(b) draws a hard line: that subsection does not apply to a trust created under an instrument executed before May 1, 2004. An older Utah trust is read under the prior rule, so check the date on the signature page before you assume a 1998 trust is revocable by default.

Section 75B-2-602(3) sets the method. Revoke or amend by complying in substance with a method the trust names. Where the trust names no method, or the method it names is not expressly exclusive, you may use a later will or codicil that expressly refers to the trust or devises particular property that would otherwise have passed under the trust, or any other method showing clear and convincing evidence of your intent.

Two subsections in the same section deserve a place on your checklist. Utah Code 75B-2-602(5) says an agent under a power of attorney may exercise your revocation, amendment, or distribution powers only to the extent the trust terms or the power expressly authorize it, so a general Utah power of attorney will not reach the trust unless it says so. And 75B-2-602(6) lets a conservator, or a guardian where no conservator has been appointed, exercise those powers only with the approval of the supervising court.

Funding Is the Half People Skip

Funding means changing title so the trust owns the asset. A trust document signed on Tuesday and left in a drawer moves nothing.

Real property. Sign and record a deed conveying the property to yourself as trustee. Utah Code 75B-2-816(1) says that when title to real property is granted to a person as trustee, the terms of the trust may be given in the deed of transfer or in a separate instrument signed by the grantor and recorded in the same office. Section 75B-2-816(3) then names what those recited terms must include: the name of the trustee, the address of the trustee, and the name and date of the trust. Section 75B-2-816(2) supplies the penalty for skipping it. Where the terms are not made public as required, a conveyance from the trustee is absolute in favor of purchasers for value who take without notice of the trust terms.

The deed needs a notarial acknowledgment. Utah Code 57-3-101(1) says a certificate of acknowledgment, proof of execution, or jurat signed and certified by the officer is what entitles a document to be recorded in the county where the property sits.

Recording costs little. Utah Code 17-71-407(3)(a)(i) sets a $40 fee per instrument for recording, and 17-71-407(3)(b) adds $5 in a second through sixth class county unless that county holds a balance in the restricted account into which recording fees are deposited. Counties publish different totals because of that condition. Utah County publishes $40 and Weber, Washington, Cache, Iron, and Kane each publish $45. Call the recorder where the property sits rather than working the fee out from population class, and note that 17-71-407(6) allows only one recording fee per instrument no matter how many titles or attachments it carries.

Do not try to hold property jointly with your own trust. Utah Code 57-1-5(1)(a)(iii) forbids a joint tenancy between a person and an entity or organization, and the subsection names a trustee of a trust alongside a corporation and a partnership. Funding the house means deeding it to the trust, not adding the trust as a co-owner. The full picture of Utah co-ownership sits on how to avoid probate in Utah.

Bank and brokerage accounts. Retitle the account into the name of the trust. The bank will ask for proof, and Utah gives you a short document instead of the whole instrument. Utah Code 75B-2-1013(1) lets the trustee furnish a certification of trust stating that the trust exists and the date the instrument was executed, the identity of the settlor, the identity and address of the acting trustee, the trustee's powers in the pending transaction, whether the trust is revocable and who may revoke it, the authority of cotrustees, and the name in which title may be taken. Section 75B-2-1013(4) says the certification need not contain the dispositive terms. Section 75B-2-1013(8) is the sentence to quote at a stubborn counter clerk: a person who demands the trust instrument in addition to a certification is liable for costs, expenses, attorney fees, and damages if the court finds the demand was not made in good faith.

Accounts you should leave alone. Retirement plans and life insurance pass by beneficiary designation. Utah Code 75-6-201(1) makes a provision for payment or transfer at death in an insurance policy, employment contract, deposit agreement, pension plan, or trust agreement nontestamentary and valid without probate. Naming a trust as the beneficiary of a retirement account changes how the money is taxed and paid out after death, so ask a Utah attorney or your plan administrator before you write the trust onto that form.

Vehicles and boats. Utah Code 75-6-201(4) deems a motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, or boat registration in the names of two or more individuals to be held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship unless otherwise indicated. Adding a second individual reaches the same result as a trust for that title, at DMV counter prices.

The Pour-Over Will

Every Utah living trust ships with a companion will, and Utah Code 75-2-511 is the section that makes it work. Subsection (1) lets a will devise property to the trustee of a trust established or to be established, and it says the devise is not invalid because the trust is amendable or revocable, or because the trust was amended after the will was signed or after the testator's death. Subsection (2) says property devised to that trust does not become a testamentary trust. It joins the trust you already have and is administered under that instrument, amendments included.

Then subsection (3) carries the trap. Unless the will provides otherwise, a revocation or termination of the trust before the testator's death causes the devise to lapse. Revoke a Utah trust without rewriting the will and the will may have nothing left to say about the property it was written to catch.

The will still has to be a valid Utah will. Utah Code 75-2-502(1) requires it to be in writing, signed by the testator or in the testator's name by another individual in the testator's conscious presence and at the testator's direction, and signed by at least two individuals who each witnessed the signing or the testator's acknowledgment. Subsection (2) saves an unwitnessed document as a holographic will where the signature and material portions are in the testator's handwriting. Utah Code 75-2-504 adds the self-proving affidavit, which spares your witnesses a trip to court. Details are on Utah will requirements.

One more thing the pour-over will cannot do. Utah Code 75-3-102 says that, except as provided in Section 75-3-1201, a will must be declared valid by an order of informal probate by the registrar or by an adjudication of probate by the court to be effective to prove the transfer of any property. So if the pour-over will is carrying real assets because funding was left unfinished, somebody opens a probate case to pour them over. The will backstops the trust. It does not replace the funding.

What Happens After You Die

The trust becomes irrevocable and three clocks start.

Sixty days to notify beneficiaries. Utah Code 75B-2-811(2)(c) says that within 60 days after the trustee learns that a formerly revocable trust has become irrevocable, whether by the settlor's death or otherwise, the trustee shall notify the qualified beneficiaries of the trust's existence, the identity of the settlor, the right to request a copy of the trust instrument, and the right to a trustee's report. Section 75B-2-811(2)(b) gives a new trustee the same 60 days to send name, address, and telephone number after accepting the job.

Three years to contest, or 90 days if the trustee moves first. Utah Code 75B-2-604(1) requires a proceeding contesting the validity of a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death to start within the earlier of three years after the death, or 90 days after the trustee sends the person a copy of the trust instrument and notice of the trust's existence, the trustee's name and address, and the time allowed. Section 75B-2-604(2) then lets the trustee distribute in the meantime without liability, unless the trustee knows of a pending contest or has received written notice of a possible one that ripens into a filed case within 60 days.

Creditors, and this is where Utah differs from the national script. Most living trust pages say a trust bypasses the creditor claim process. Utah wrote a claims process into the trust code itself. Utah Code 75B-2-508(1) lets the trustee of an inter vivos revocable trust publish notice to creditors after the settlor's death, once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the settlor resided and through the state legal notice system under Section 45-1-101, telling creditors to present claims within three months of first publication or be barred. Section 75B-2-508(2) requires written notice to any known creditor, who then has 90 days from the published notice or 60 days from the mailing, whichever is later.

Publication is optional. The Medicaid notice is not. Utah Code 75B-2-508(3)(a) says that where the deceased settlor received medical assistance at any time after age 55, the trustee shall mail or deliver written notice to the Director of the Office of Recovery Services to present any claim under Section 26B-3-1013 within 60 days. Skip it and 75B-2-508(3)(b) gives the department one year from the death instead. Utah Code 26B-3-1013(4) sends the department down that same road, requiring claims against a deceased recipient's inter vivos trust to be presented under Sections 75B-2-509 and 75B-2-510. Utah Code 75B-2-509(1) sets the outer wall for everyone else: claims arising before the death are barred unless presented within the earlier of one year after the settlor's death or the notice periods above. Section 75B-2-509(4) preserves four things regardless, including any proceeding to enforce a mortgage, pledge, or other lien, and the right to recover medical assistance under Title 26B, Chapter 3, Part 10.

The successor trustee's whole job is covered on Utah trust administration.

What a Utah Trust Does Not Do

It does not cut your income tax. Under 26 U.S.C. 676(a), the grantor is treated as the owner of any portion of a trust where the power to revest title in the grantor is exercisable by the grantor or a non-adverse party. The income stays yours while you live.

It does not stop your creditors. Utah Code 75B-2-505(1)(a) says that whether or not the trust has a spendthrift provision, the property of a revocable trust is subject to the claims of the settlor's creditors during the settlor's lifetime. Section 75B-2-505(3) carries it past death, reaching trust property for the settlor's creditors, the costs of administering the estate, funeral and disposal expenses, and statutory allowances to a surviving spouse and children, to the extent the probate estate cannot cover them.

It does not shield anything from Medicaid estate recovery. Utah Code 26B-3-1001(12)(c) writes "living trust" into the definition of the recovery estate by name. Utah Code 26B-3-1013(1)(a) reaches any trust in which the recipient was both grantor and beneficiary, and 26B-3-1013(5) makes a clause drafted to defeat recovery void at the time of its making. Anyone who has received or may need Medicaid long term care should talk to a Utah elder law attorney before retitling a house.

It does not save you from a ruinous probate bill, because Utah does not have one. The court filing fee for a probate petition is a flat $375 statewide under Utah Code 78A-2-301(1)(a). Utah has no percentage fee. Personal representatives take reasonable compensation under Utah Code 75-3-718(1). A small estate can skip the case entirely: Utah Code 75-3-1201(1) allows collection of personal property by sworn affidavit where the entire estate subject to administration, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000 and 30 days have passed, which is worked through on the $100,000 affidavit after a death.

Trust or Transfer on Death Deed

For a Utah family whose main asset is one house, the recorded deed usually wins on cost.

Utah adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act as Title 75, Chapter 6, Part 4. Utah Code 75-6-409 sets three requirements: the deed must carry the elements and formalities of a properly recordable inter vivos deed, it must state that the transfer happens at the transferor's death, and it must be recorded before the transferor's death with the recorder of the county where the property sits. Optional statutory forms are printed at 75-6-416 and 75-6-417. One recording fee moves one house out of probate.

The trust earns its cost somewhere else. Pick a trust where you own real estate in more than one state and want to avoid a second probate case, where you want distributions staged over time rather than handed over in a lump, where privacy matters because a recorded deed and a probate file are both public, where a beneficiary has a disability or a creditor problem that needs managed money, or where incapacity planning matters more than death planning and you want a successor trustee who can act without a conservatorship.

Both routes have a claw-back. Utah Code 75-6-415 lets the estate reach transfer on death property for an allowed claim or a statutory allowance where the probate estate falls short, in a proceeding started within 12 months of death. The trust's version is 75B-2-505(3) above, with no matching 12 month cap. Read a TOD deed instead of a trust before you spend money on either.

A Utah Funding Checklist

  1. Read your trust's revocation article and note whether the trust names an exclusive method. (75B-2-602(3).)
  2. Confirm remainder beneficiaries exist, so you are not the sole trustee and sole beneficiary. (75B-2-402(1)(e).)
  3. Deed each parcel to yourself as trustee, reciting the trustee's name, the trustee's address, and the name and date of the trust. (75B-2-816(3).)
  4. Get the deed acknowledged and recorded in the county where the property sits. (57-3-101(1), 17-71-407.)
  5. Never take title in joint tenancy with your own trust. (57-1-5(1)(a)(iii).)
  6. Retitle bank and brokerage accounts, handing over a certification of trust rather than the instrument. (75B-2-1013.)
  7. Leave retirement plans and life insurance on beneficiary designations unless an attorney tells you otherwise. (75-6-201(1).)
  8. Sign the pour-over will with two witnesses and a self-proving affidavit. (75-2-502, 75-2-504.)
  9. Sign the incapacity documents, since the trust covers property and nothing else. See Utah power of attorney and Utah advance health care directive.
  10. Keep a one page schedule of what is titled to the trust, and update it every time you buy or sell.

When To Call A Utah Attorney

Talk to a licensed Utah attorney when:

  • Medicaid long term care is on the table, because 26B-3-1001(12)(c) names the living trust in the recovery estate
  • you own real property in another state whose recorder may not accept a Utah deed
  • a blended family means the survivorship default on a deed and the trust point at different people
  • a beneficiary has a disability, a creditor problem, or a substance problem that needs staged distributions
  • a trust already exists and nobody can say which assets were ever retitled into it
  • the trust instrument predates May 1, 2004, so the revocability default in 75B-2-602(1)(a) does not reach it
  • the settlor has died and you are the successor trustee deciding whether to publish notice to creditors

Confirm anything that affects a particular property with the county recorder where it sits, and anything about a filed case with the district court handling it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Utah Uniform Trust Code?

Title 75B, Chapter 2. The trust code was renumbered and amended by Chapter 310 of the 2025 General Session, effective May 7, 2025, and Title 75 no longer carries a Chapter 7. Any page that cites Utah Code 75-7-602 for revocation is pointing at a chapter that no longer publishes text. The current revocation rule is 75B-2-602.

Does a Utah living trust have to be notarized, witnessed, or registered with a court?

The Utah Uniform Trust Code sets no such requirement. Title 75B, Chapter 2 contains no occurrence of notary, notarization, witness, attestation, or trust registration anywhere in its 113 sections. Creation turns on the five conditions in 75B-2-402(1), and 75B-2-407 says a trust need not be evidenced by a written instrument at all, though an oral trust can be proved only by clear and convincing evidence. Signing formalities still matter once you go to use the trust, and the deed that moves your house into the trust does need a notarial acknowledgment before a county recorder will accept it under Utah Code 57-3-101(1).

Is a Utah trust revocable by default?

For instruments signed on or after May 1, 2004, yes. Utah Code 75B-2-602(1)(a) lets the settlor revoke or amend unless the terms expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable, and 75B-2-602(1)(b) says that default does not apply to a trust created under an instrument executed before that date. An older Utah trust is read under the prior rule, so pull the signature page and check the date before assuming anything.

What happens to the pour-over will if I revoke the trust?

The devise lapses. Utah Code 75-2-511(3) says that unless the will provides otherwise, a revocation or termination of the trust before the testator's death causes the devise to the trustee to lapse. So revoking a Utah trust without rewriting the will can leave the will with nothing to say about the property it was meant to catch.

Does a Utah revocable trust protect assets from creditors?

No. Utah Code 75B-2-505(1)(a) says that during the settlor's lifetime the property of a revocable trust is subject to the claims of the settlor's creditors, whether or not the trust has a spendthrift clause. After death, 75B-2-505(3) reaches the same property for the settlor's creditors, administration costs, funeral expenses, and statutory allowances to a surviving spouse and children where the probate estate cannot cover them.

Does a Utah living trust protect a house from Medicaid estate recovery?

No. Utah Code 26B-3-1001(12)(c) defines the recovery estate to include property in which the decedent had a legal interest at death, including assets conveyed through joint tenancy, tenancy in common, survivorship, life estate, living trust, or other arrangement. Utah Code 26B-3-1013(1)(a) reaches a trust in which the recipient was both grantor and beneficiary, and 26B-3-1013(5) makes a trust clause written to defeat recovery void at the time of its making.

Does the trustee of a Utah revocable trust have to notify creditors after the settlor dies?

Publication is optional and one notice is mandatory. Utah Code 75B-2-508(1) says the trustee may publish notice to creditors once a week for three weeks and through the state legal notice system, which starts a three month bar, and 75B-2-508(2) requires written notice to any known creditor. Utah Code 75B-2-508(3)(a) requires the trustee to notify the Director of the Office of Recovery Services where the settlor received medical assistance at any time after age 55. Miss that notice and 75B-2-508(3)(b) gives the department a full year from the death to present its claim.

How long does someone have to contest a Utah living trust?

Utah Code 75B-2-604(1) requires a proceeding contesting the validity of a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death to start within the earlier of three years after the death, or 90 days after the trustee sends that person a copy of the trust instrument along with notice of the trust's existence, the trustee's name and address, and the time allowed. Sending that packet is what turns a three year exposure into a 90 day one.

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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.

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