How Utah Probate Works: A Guide for Estate Attorneys
Utah handles a death in three ways: a small estate affidavit with no court case, an informal probate with no hearing, and a formal probate with a hearing. Only the last two create a case in the public court record, which is where estate leads come from. This summarizes the court's self-help pages; it is not legal advice.
What is a small estate affidavit?
For an estate under $100,000 with no real property, where at least 30 days have passed since the death and no one has applied to be personal representative, Utah Courts says a successor can use an affidavit instead of probate. It is signed before a notary and given to third parties such as a bank. It is not filed with the court, so it never appears in court records.
What is informal probate?
The court describes it as asking the court to appoint a personal representative "without a hearing." It cannot be filed until 120 hours (five days) after the death and must be filed within three years. Interested parties sign waivers of notice; if someone refuses, the case becomes formal.
What is formal probate?
A formal probate involves a hearing, typically because there is disagreement about the appointment or administration, per the same page.
Why does this matter for finding clients?
Estate leads in court records are the cases that needed a court at all: larger estates, estates with real property, and those where an appointment is needed. What a Utah probate filing shows covers the record, and small estate affidavits and probate leads covers what the affidavit means for volume.
See Utah estate and probate leads for the category.
Want to see exactly what lands in your inbox? Download a sample spreadsheet — same format you'd actually receive, 250 fictional records so nothing here is a real defendant.