Utah Will Requirements | Settled Estate

A Utah will has to be in writing, signed by the testator or in the testator's name by someone else acting in the testator's conscious presence and at the testator's direction, and signed by at least two individuals. Utah Code 75-2-502(1) sets all three steps. Utah also accepts a handwritten will with no witnesses, and it accepts an electronic will.

The rules live in the Utah Uniform Probate Code, Title 75. Chapter 2 is titled Intestate Succession and Wills, and its Part 5 covers who may sign, how the signing works, who may witness, and how a will is revoked. Part 14 of the same chapter holds the Uniform Electronic Wills Act. Every rule below was read on the Utah Legislature's own versioned section pages, each of which prints its effective date and its amendment history at the foot of the text.

Read this page as a planning map rather than a signing kit. It is general information about Utah law, not advice about your estate. Ask a licensed Utah attorney to look at any plan that involves real property, a blended family, or a dispute you can already see forming.

A valid will does not keep an estate out of court. It names who inherits and who serves as personal representative, and the estate still moves through the process in the Utah probate guide. When no valid will exists, Utah intestate succession decides who takes.

Who Can Make a Utah Will

Utah Code 75-2-501(1) sets two conditions. The individual must be 18 years old or older, and must have testamentary capacity at the time the will is executed.

The second condition changed recently, and most summaries still carry the old one-line version. Chapter 338 of the 2025 General Session rewrote the section, effective May 7, 2025, and it now spells out what capacity means. Under 75-2-501(2), a testator has testamentary capacity if the testator:

can identify the testator's family members or other individuals in the testator's life;
understands the testator's relationship to those individuals;
understands the nature and extent of the testator's property; and
can form a plan in the testator's mind for the disposition of the testator's property.

Two more subsections follow, and both matter to families worried about a challenge. Utah Code 75-2-501(3) says the testator needs no knowledge or understanding of the laws of inheritance by intestate succession. Utah Code 75-2-501(4) creates a rebuttable presumption that testamentary capacity existed at the signing even if the testator was subject to a guardianship or conservatorship, or was otherwise unable to independently manage the testator's affairs.

That presumption is worth reading twice. A guardianship or conservatorship order is not, on its own, an answer to whether the person could make a will. Capacity is judged at the moment of signing, and someone who wants to attack it starts from behind. What that looks like when a family fights over the document is covered in Utah will contests.

What Makes a Utah Will Valid

Utah Code 75-2-502(1) opens with an exception list, pointing to holographic wills in Subsection (2) and to Sections 75-2-503, 75-2-506 and 75-2-513. A will that takes the ordinary route shall be:

In writing.
Signed by the testator, or in the testator's name by some other individual in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction.
Signed by at least two individuals, each of whom signed within a reasonable time after he witnessed either the signing of the will or the testator's acknowledgment of that signature or acknowledgment of the will.

Read the third limb slowly, because two habits people bring from other states do not match it.

The witnesses do not have to watch the pen move. A witness qualifies by watching the testator sign, or by hearing the testator acknowledge the signature, or by hearing the testator acknowledge the will. An already-signed document that the testator holds up and claims can still be witnessed.

The witnesses do not have to sign at the table. Each signs within a reasonable time after witnessing the signing or the acknowledgment. The statute never puts the witnesses in the testator's presence at the moment they sign, and it never asks them to sign in front of each other. The clean practice is still everybody signing in one sitting, because a reasonable time is a question a judge answers later.

Utah Offers No Notary-Only Route

Some states validate a will that the testator merely acknowledged before a notary, with no witnesses. Utah is not one of them. Utah Code 75-2-502(1) lists a writing, a signature and two witness signatures, and nothing else. A notary shows up in the next section instead, for the optional self-proving affidavit at 75-2-504, and that affidavit is about proving the will later rather than about making it valid.

An Interested Witness Does Not Void a Utah Will

Utah Code 75-2-505 runs two sentences. An individual generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will. The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it.

Utah carries no purging rule, so a witness who inherits under the will does not forfeit the gift. The section also states no minimum age for a witness and no requirement that a witness take nothing under the document. Even so, two adults who inherit nothing remove the easiest undue-influence argument anyone can make, and they cost nothing to find.

Handwritten Wills Are Valid in Utah

Utah Code 75-2-502(2) recognizes holographic wills outright. A will that does not comply with the witnessed-will rules is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and the material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting.

Three details decide whether a handwritten page qualifies.

The material portions must be handwritten. Who gets what has to be in the testator's own hand. Printed text may sit on the same page.
The testator must sign it. A signature in the testator's handwriting is part of the test.
Intent still has to be shown. Utah Code 75-2-502(3) says intent that the document constitutes the will can be established by extrinsic evidence, and it lets a court use the portions of a holographic will that are not in the testator's handwriting as part of that evidence. A store-bought fill-in form with handwritten gifts can qualify on that reading.

Notice what the section does not ask for. No witnesses. No notary. No date. Utah's holographic rule is genuinely wide, and that is exactly why these documents draw fights. Handwriting comparisons, missing pages and ambiguous wording generate litigation that a typed will signed before two witnesses would have avoided.

Utah's Harmless Error Rule

Utah Code 75-2-503 keeps one missed formality from ending the matter. Although a document, or a writing added upon a document, was not executed in compliance with Section 75-2-502, it is treated as if it had been when the proponent establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent intended it to constitute:

What the proponent must prove the decedent intended	75-2-503
The decedent's will	Subsection (1)
A partial or complete revocation of the will	Subsection (2)
An addition to or an alteration of the will	Subsection (3)
A partial or complete revival of a formerly revoked will, or of a formerly revoked portion	Subsection (4)

The section asks for no witnesses at all. Clear and convincing evidence carries the whole weight, and the phrase "a writing added upon a document" reaches a handwritten change scribbled onto an existing typed will.

Treat 75-2-503 as a rescue tool for a family already in court, never as a signing plan. Proving intent to that standard costs far more than a second witness would have.

Self-Proved Wills, and What They Buy

Utah Code 75-2-504 lets a will be made self-proved two ways. Subsection (1) covers a will executed, attested and made self-proved at the same sitting, by the testator's acknowledgment and the witnesses' affidavits before an officer authorized to administer oaths, evidenced by the officer's certificate under official seal. Subsection (2) covers an already-attested will made self-proved at any time afterward. The section prints model wording for both.

Two follow-on rules are easy to miss.

An affidavit signature can rescue a missing will signature. Utah Code 75-2-504(3) says a signature affixed to a self-proving affidavit attached to a will is considered a signature affixed to the will, if that is needed to prove the will's due execution.
This section wins against conflicting notarization rules. Utah Code 75-2-504(4) says the notarization provisions of the section preempt conflicting provisions elsewhere in the Utah Code, whether the will was executed before or after July 1, 1998.

The payoff arrives at probate. Utah Code 75-3-406(2) says that if the will is self-proved, compliance with signature requirements is conclusively presumed, and the other requirements of execution are presumed subject to rebuttal, without the testimony of any witness, unless there is proof of fraud or forgery affecting the acknowledgment or affidavit. Without that affidavit, 75-3-406(1) puts the burden back on people: in a contested case involving an attested will that is not self-proved, the testimony of at least one attesting witness is required if that witness is within the state, competent and able to testify.

A self-proving affidavit is optional. A will signed correctly without one is still valid. It simply spares the family from tracking down two witnesses years later, when one has moved and the other has died.

Utah Recognizes Electronic Wills

Utah adopted the Uniform Electronic Wills Act as Title 75, Chapter 2, Part 14, sections 75-2-1401 through 75-2-1411. Chapter 1 of the 2020 Sixth Special Session enacted it, and the sections took effect August 31, 2020. Utah Code 75-2-1411 applies the part to the will of a decedent who dies on or after that date.

Utah Code 75-2-1403(1) states the headline: an electronic will is a will for all purposes of the law of this state. The execution rules sit at 75-2-1405(1), and they track the paper rules with one large difference:

A record readable as text at the time of signing.
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.
Signed in the physical or electronic presence of the testator by at least two individuals, within a reasonable time after witnessing the signing or the testator's acknowledgment.

The phrase "electronic presence" is defined at 75-2-1402(2) as the relationship of two or more individuals in different locations communicating in real time to the same extent as if they were physically present in the same location. A witness on a live video call satisfies the presence element for an electronic will. That definition section was amended by Chapter 310 of the 2025 General Session, effective May 7, 2025.

Four neighboring sections round out the part.

Harmless error carries over. Utah Code 75-2-1406 says Section 75-2-503 applies to a will executed electronically.
Self-proving works too. Utah Code 75-2-1408 lets an electronic will be executed, attested and made self-proving at once, with the officer's certificate affixed to or logically associated with the will. Subsection (5) says that where the section conflicts with Title 46, Chapter 1, the Notaries Public Reform Act, this section supersedes it.
A paper copy can be certified. Utah Code 75-2-1409 lets anyone create a certified paper copy by affirming under penalty of perjury that it is a complete, true and accurate copy, and the copy has to include the self-proving affidavits if the will was made self-proving.
Another state's law can save it. Utah Code 75-2-1404 recognizes a will executed electronically but outside 75-2-1405(1) if it complied with the law of the jurisdiction where the testator was physically located at signing, or where the testator was domiciled or resided at signing or at death.

A Will Signed in Another State

Utah Code 75-2-506 saves a lot of documents that arrive with a move. A written will is valid if it was executed in compliance with Section 75-2-502 or 75-2-503, or if its execution complies with the law at the time of execution of the place where the will was executed, or the law of the place where the testator was domiciled, had a place of abode, or was a national, either at execution or at death.

A will signed in Texas under Texas rules does not need re-signing after a move to Salt Lake City. The same door lets in a holographic will made valid somewhere else on terms Utah would not have applied.

The Separate List for Personal Items

Utah Code 75-2-513 lets a will point at a written statement or list that disposes of items of tangible personal property, other than money, that the will does not itself dispose of by a specific gift. The list has to be signed by the testator and has to describe the items and the devisees with reasonable certainty.

The flexibility is the point. The list may be prepared before or after the will is executed, it may be referred to as one that will exist at death, and the testator may alter it later without touching the will. Furniture, jewelry and tools can move around on a signed page rather than through a new will each time.

Revoking or Changing a Utah Will

Utah Code 75-2-507(1) gives two methods. The first is executing a later will that revokes the earlier one expressly or by inconsistency. The second is a revocatory act on the will, performed by the testator with the intent to revoke, or by another individual in the testator's conscious presence and at the testator's direction. Burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating or destroying the will or any part of it all count, and a burning, tearing or canceling qualifies whether or not it touched any of the words.

Two presumptions decide what a later will did to an earlier one:

A complete later will replaces. If the later will makes a complete disposition of the estate, the testator is presumed to have meant it to replace the earlier one, and the earlier will is revoked unless clear and convincing evidence rebuts that. (75-2-507(3).)
A partial later will supplements. If the later will disposes of only part of the estate, the presumption runs the other way, and the earlier will is revoked only where the two conflict. (75-2-507(4).)

Life changes alone do not revoke a Utah will. Utah Code 75-2-508 says a change of circumstances does not revoke a will or any part of it, except as provided in Sections 75-2-803, 75-2-804 and 75-2-807, which cover a killer's forfeiture, divorce and other statutory exceptions. Reviving a revoked will is also not automatic. Utah Code 75-2-509 turns on evidence of what the testator intended when the later will was revoked, so an old document does not spring back on its own. Sign a new one instead.

Electronic wills follow a slightly different revocation rule. Utah Code 75-2-1407(2)(b) revokes all or part of an electronic will by a physical act only where a preponderance of the evidence establishes that the testator, intending to revoke, performed the act or directed another individual who performed it in the testator's physical presence. Live video is enough to witness an electronic will and is not enough to direct its destruction.

Who Holds the Will, and What Happens After a Death

Utah sets no fixed deadline to hand over a will, which is where imported copy from other states goes wrong. Utah Code 75-2-902 states the whole duty: after the death of a testator, and on request of an interested person, a person having custody of a will of the testator shall deliver it with reasonable promptness to a person able to secure its probate. A person who willfully fails to deliver a will is liable to a person aggrieved for damages sustained by the failure, and a person who willfully refuses or fails to deliver a will after a court order in a proceeding brought to compel delivery is subject to penalty for contempt of court.

Two things follow from the way that section is written. The duty is triggered by an interested person's request rather than by the calendar, and Part 9 of Chapter 2 contains that single section, so Utah's code sets out no lifetime deposit-with-the-court procedure there.

There is still a clock on the estate. Utah Code 75-3-107(1) says an informal probate proceeding or formal testacy proceeding may not be commenced more than three years after the decedent's death, with narrow exceptions, and 75-3-107(3) makes the presumption of intestacy final if no will is probated within that window. A will sitting in a drawer past the third anniversary of a death can lose its effect.

Utah probate runs in the district court. Utah Code 75-1-302(1)(a) gives the court jurisdiction over all subject matter relating to estates of decedents, including construction of wills and determination of heirs, and Utah Code 78A-5-101(2)(b) places a district court in the county seat of each county. Utah has no separate probate court, so the forum question reads the same in all 29 counties. The Utah State Courts self-help page on informal probate states the practical rule for the document itself: if there is a will, the original will must be filed with the court along with the other paperwork to start the probate case. What happens after that filing is mapped in the Utah probate timeline.

The Will Is One Piece of a Utah Plan

If you want a Utah will that holds up, the ordinary version looks like this:

Confirm the testator is 18 or older and meets the capacity test in 75-2-501(2).
Put the will in writing and have the testator sign it.
Have two competent adults, ideally taking nothing under the will, sign within a reasonable time after watching the signing or hearing the acknowledgment.
Add a self-proving affidavit under 75-2-504 so nobody has to find those two people at probate.
Store the original where the personal representative can reach it, and tell that person where it is.

A will handles what happens after a death and nothing before it. Pair it with a Utah power of attorney and a Utah advance health care directive for lifetime decisions, use it to name a guardian for your children, and look at how to avoid probate in Utah for the assets you would rather keep out of court. For the full picture of the documents that make up a plan here, start with Utah estate planning basics.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many witnesses does a Utah will need?

At least two. Utah Code 75-2-502(1)(c) says the will shall be signed by at least two individuals, each of whom signed within a reasonable time after witnessing either the signing of the will or the testator's acknowledgment of that signature or of the will. The section sets no age test and no disinterest test for those two people.

Does a Utah will have to be notarized?

No. Utah Code 75-2-502(1) lists a writing, the testator's signature, and two witness signatures, and it offers no notary-only alternative. A notary matters at the next step instead. Utah Code 75-2-504 lets the testator and the witnesses swear a self-proving affidavit before an officer authorized to administer oaths, which is optional and does not decide whether the will is valid.

Is a handwritten will valid in Utah?

Yes, on one condition. Utah Code 75-2-502(2) says a will that does not comply with the witnessed-will rules is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting. Utah Code 75-2-502(3) lets extrinsic evidence establish that the writer meant the page as a will, including the parts that are not handwritten.

Does Utah accept electronic wills?

Yes. The Uniform Electronic Wills Act sits at Utah Code 75-2-1401 through 75-2-1411, enacted by Chapter 1 of the 2020 Sixth Special Session and effective August 31, 2020. Utah Code 75-2-1405(1) asks for a record readable as text at signing, the testator's signature, and at least two individuals who sign in the physical or electronic presence of the testator.

Can a Utah will that misses a step still be admitted?

Sometimes. Utah Code 75-2-503 treats a document, or a writing added upon a document, as if it had been executed correctly when the proponent establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent intended it as the will, a revocation, an addition or alteration, or a revival. Utah Code 75-2-1406 applies the same rule to a will executed electronically.

How long does someone have to turn in a Utah will after a death?

Utah sets no fixed number of days. Utah Code 75-2-902 says that after the death of a testator, and on request of an interested person, a person having custody of the will shall deliver it with reasonable promptness to a person able to secure its probate. Willful failure creates liability for damages, and willful refusal after a court order is punishable as contempt.

Sources:

Title: Utah Code 75-2-501, Who may make will -- Testamentary capacity (effective 5/7/2025). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S501_2025050720250507.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-502, Execution -- Witnessed wills -- Holographic wills. Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S502_1800010118000101.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-503, Writings intended as wills. Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S503_1800010118000101.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-504, Self-proved will. Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S504_1800010118000101.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-505, Who may witness. Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S505_1800010118000101.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-506, Choice of law as to execution. Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S506_1800010118000101.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-507, Revocation by writing or by act. Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S507_1800010118000101.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-513, Separate writing identifying devise of certain types of tangible personal property. Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S513_1800010118000101.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-902, Duty of custodian of will -- Liability (effective 5/9/2017). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S902_2017050920170509.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-1401, Title (Uniform Electronic Wills Act, effective 8/31/2020). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S1401_2020083120200831.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-1402, Definitions (effective 5/7/2025). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S1402_2025050720250507.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-1404, Choice of law regarding execution (effective 8/31/2020). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S1404_2020083120200831.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-1405, Execution of an electronic will (effective 8/31/2020). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S1405_2020083120200831.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-1406, Harmless error (effective 8/31/2020). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S1406_2020083120200831.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-1407, Revocation (effective 8/31/2020). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S1407_2020083120200831.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-1408, Electronic will attested and made self-proving at time of execution (effective 8/31/2020). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S1408_2020083120200831.html
Title: Utah Code 75-2-1409, Certification of paper copy (effective 8/31/2020). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter2/C75-2-S1409_2020083120200831.html
Title: Utah Code 75-1-302, Subject matter jurisdiction. Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter1/C75-1-S302_1800010118000101.html
Title: Utah Code 78A-5-101, State District Court Administrative System -- Definitions (effective 5/4/2022). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78A/Chapter5/C78A-5-S101_2022050420220504.html
Title: Utah Code 75-3-107, Probate and testacy proceedings -- Ultimate time limit -- Presumption and order of intestacy (effective 5/8/2018). Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter3/C75-3-S107_2018050820180508.html
Title: Utah Code 75-3-406, Formal testacy proceedings -- Contested cases -- Testimony of attesting witnesses. Publisher: Utah State Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75/Chapter3/C75-3-S406_1800010118000101.html
Title: Informal Probate. Publisher: Utah State Courts. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://www.utcourts.gov/en/self-help/case-categories/probate/informal-probate.html
Title: Life Planning and Probate. Publisher: Utah State Courts. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-08-28. URL: https://www.utcourts.gov/en/self-help/case-categories/probate.html

It is not legal advice.