UT Bar Wills Trusts and Estates 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Utah's intestacy scheme, a decedent is survived by a spouse and two children who are all descendants of that spouse. The decedent left no will. What does the surviving spouse receive?
- The entire intestate estate (Correct answer)
- One-half of the intestate estate
- $75,000 plus one-half of the balance
- A life estate in one-third of the estate
Correct answer: The entire intestate estate
Under Utah Code § 75-2-102, the spouse takes the entire intestate estate when all of the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse.
Question 2: A Utah testator writes a will entirely in her own handwriting, dates it, and signs it, but no witnesses are present. Is the will valid?
- No, because Utah requires two witnesses for all wills
- Yes, as a holographic will because the material portions and signature are in her handwriting (Correct answer)
- No, unless it is notarized
- Yes, but only for personal property
Correct answer: Yes, as a holographic will because the material portions and signature are in her handwriting
Utah Code § 75-2-502 recognizes holographic wills where the signature and material portions are in the testator's handwriting, with no witness requirement.
Question 3: A beneficiary named in a Utah will also serves as one of the two attesting witnesses. What is the effect on the will and the gift?
- The entire will is invalid
- The will is valid but the gift to the witness is automatically void
- The will and the gift are both valid; an interested witness does not invalidate either (Correct answer)
- The witness must forfeit any amount exceeding an intestate share
Correct answer: The will and the gift are both valid; an interested witness does not invalidate either
Under Utah Code § 75-2-505, the signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it.
Question 4: A testator's will leaves 'my 2019 Toyota Camry' to his nephew, but the testator sold the Camry before death and bought a truck. Under Utah law, what does the nephew most likely receive?
- The truck as a replacement asset in all circumstances
- Nothing, because the specific gift adeemed by extinction (Correct answer)
- The cash value of the Camry from the residuary estate
- His choice of any vehicle in the estate
Correct answer: Nothing, because the specific gift adeemed by extinction
A specific devise of property no longer in the estate at death generally adeems by extinction, leaving the beneficiary with nothing absent evidence of contrary intent or a qualifying replacement under UPC rules.
Question 5: Under Utah's 120-hour survival rule, a husband and wife die in a car crash; the wife survives the husband by two days. Neither has a will. For purposes of the husband's intestate estate, how is the wife treated?
- As having survived him, so she inherits his estate
- As having predeceased him, because she did not survive by 120 hours (Correct answer)
- As a simultaneous death, splitting the estate equally
- As surviving only if a court finds clear intent
Correct answer: As having predeceased him, because she did not survive by 120 hours
Utah Code § 75-2-104 requires an heir to survive the decedent by 120 hours; surviving only two days (48 hours) means the wife is deemed to have predeceased him.
Question 6: A settlor creates a revocable inter vivos trust in Utah but the trust instrument is silent about the power to revoke. Can the settlor revoke the trust?
- No, trusts are irrevocable unless the instrument expressly reserves revocation
- Yes, under the Utah Uniform Trust Code a trust is revocable unless the terms expressly state it is irrevocable (Correct answer)
- Only with the consent of all beneficiaries
- Only with court approval upon showing changed circumstances
Correct answer: Yes, under the Utah Uniform Trust Code a trust is revocable unless the terms expressly state it is irrevocable
Under Utah's Uniform Trust Code (§ 75-7-605), a trust is revocable by the settlor unless the terms expressly provide that it is irrevocable.
Question 7: A Utah testator physically tears his will in half with the intent to revoke it. His earlier will, which he never destroyed, is found after his death. What is the most likely result under Utah law?
- The earlier will is automatically revived
- The earlier will is revived only if the testator intended revival, shown by circumstances or statements (Correct answer)
- The estate must pass by intestacy in all cases
- The torn will remains effective because revocation requires a writing
Correct answer: The earlier will is revived only if the testator intended revival, shown by circumstances or statements
Under UPC-based Utah law (§ 75-2-509), revoking a later will by physical act revives the earlier will only if the testator's intent to revive is evident from the circumstances or contemporaneous declarations.
UT Bar Wills Trusts and Estates 2
Under Utah's intestacy scheme, a decedent is survived by a spouse and two children who are all descendants of that spouse.
The decedent left no will.
What does the surviving spouse receive?