Wills Trusts and Estates Flashcards

A Utah testator executes a will, then marries. The will makes no provision for the new spouse and shows no intent to exclude her. What is the spouse's remedy?

Answer: She takes an intestate share of the estate as an omitted spouse, subject to statutory exceptions

Under Utah Code § 75-2-301, a spouse who marries the testator after the will's execution generally receives an intestate share as an omitted spouse unless the omission was intentional or she was otherwise provided for.

A child is born to a Utah testator two years after the testator executed his will, which leaves everything to his two older children. What does the after-born child receive?

Answer: A share equal to what the other children receive under the will, as a pretermitted child

Under Utah Code § 75-2-302, an omitted after-born child generally shares in the estate equally with the children provided for in the will.

A caretaker isolated an elderly Utah testator, controlled her finances, and procured a new will leaving him everything shortly before her death. Which will contest ground fits best?

Answer: Undue influence

Undue influence exists where a wrongdoer's control over a susceptible testator overcomes her free will and causes a disposition she would not otherwise have made, as suggested by isolation, control, and procurement.

A Utah decedent held a bank account as 'payable on death' to his niece. His will purports to leave the same account to his brother. Who takes the account funds at death?

Answer: The niece, because the POD designation is a nonprobate transfer not controlled by the will

A payable-on-death designation is a valid nonprobate transfer under Utah law, and the funds pass outside the will to the named beneficiary.

A son murders his father in Utah and is convicted. The father died intestate, and the son is his only child. Who inherits the estate?

Answer: The son's children, because the slayer is treated as having disclaimed or predeceased the decedent

Under Utah's slayer statute (§ 75-2-803), a killer forfeits his inheritance and is treated as having predeceased the decedent, letting the estate pass to the next takers such as the slayer's descendants.

A Utah testator leaves 'all my property to my descendants, per capita at each generation.' The testator's two children predecease him; one child left one grandchild and the other left two grandchildren. How is the estate divided?

Answer: Each of the three grandchildren takes one-third

Under per capita at each generation, the UPC default in Utah, members of the same generation take equal shares, so the three grandchildren each take one-third.

A beneficiary of a Utah estate wants to refuse her inheritance so it passes to her children without gift tax consequences. What must she do?

Answer: Execute a valid written disclaimer, after which she is treated as having predeceased the decedent

Under Utah's disclaimer statutes, a qualified written disclaimer causes the disclaimed interest to pass as if the disclaimant predeceased the decedent, avoiding a taxable transfer by her.