78B-5-505.  Property exempt from execution.

(1) 

Terms Used In Utah Code 78B-5-505

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Civil accounts receivable: means the same as that term is defined in Section 77-32b-102. See Utah Code 78B-5-502
  • Civil judgment of restitution: means the same as that term is defined in Section 77-32b-102. See Utah Code 78B-5-502
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Dependent: means the spouse of an individual, and the grandchild or the natural or adoptive child of an individual who derives support primarily from that individual. See Utah Code 78B-5-502
  • Exempt: means protected, and "exemption" means protection from subjection to a judicial process to collect an unsecured debt. See Utah Code 78B-5-502
  • Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
  • Levy: means the seizure of property pursuant to any legal process issued for the purpose of collecting an unsecured debt. See Utah Code 78B-5-502
  • Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Person: means :Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Property: includes both real and personal property. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • United States: includes each state, district, and territory of the United States of America. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
(a)  An individual is entitled to exemption of the following property:

(i)  a burial plot for the individual and the individual’s family;

(ii)  health aids reasonably necessary to enable the individual or a dependent to work or sustain health;

(iii)  benefits that the individual or the individual’s dependent have received or are entitled to receive from any source because of:

(A)  disability;

(B)  illness; or

(C)  unemployment;

(iv)  benefits paid or payable for medical, surgical, or hospital care to the extent that the benefits are used by an individual or the individual’s dependent to pay for that care;

(v)  veterans benefits;

(vi)  money or property received, and rights to receive money or property for child support;

(vii)  money or property received, and rights to receive money or property for alimony or separate maintenance, to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the individual and the individual’s dependents;

(viii) 

(A)  one:

(I)  clothes washer and dryer;

(II)  refrigerator;

(III)  freezer;

(IV)  stove;

(V)  microwave oven; and

(VI)  sewing machine;

(B)  all carpets in use;

(C)  provisions sufficient for 12 months actually provided for individual or family use;

(D)  all wearing apparel of every individual and dependent, not including jewelry or furs; and

(E)  all beds and bedding for every individual or dependent;

(ix)  except for works of art held by the debtor as part of a trade or business, works of art:

(A)  depicting the debtor or the debtor and the debtor’s resident family; or

(B)  produced by the debtor or the debtor and the debtor’s resident family;

(x)  proceeds of insurance, a judgment, or a settlement, or other rights accruing as a result of bodily injury of the individual or of the wrongful death or bodily injury of another individual of whom the individual was or is a dependent to the extent that those proceeds are compensatory;

(xi)  the proceeds or benefits of any life insurance contracts or policies paid or payable to the debtor or any trust of which the debtor is a beneficiary upon the death of the spouse or children of the debtor, provided that the contract or policy has been owned by the debtor for a continuous unexpired period of one year;

(xii)  the proceeds or benefits of any life insurance contracts or policies paid or payable to the spouse or children of the debtor or any trust of which the spouse or children are beneficiaries upon the death of the debtor, provided that the contract or policy has been in existence for a continuous unexpired period of one year;

(xiii)  proceeds and avails of any unmatured life insurance contracts owned by the debtor or any revocable grantor trust created by the debtor, excluding any payments made on the contract during the one year immediately preceding a creditor’s levy or execution;

(xiv)  except as provided in Subsection (1)(b), and except for a judgment described in Subsection 75-7-503(2)(c), any money or other assets held for or payable to the individual as an owner, participant, or beneficiary from or an interest of the individual as an owner, participant, or beneficiary in a fund or account, including an inherited fund or account, in a retirement plan or arrangement that is described in Section 401(a), 401(h), 401(k), 403(a), 403(b), 408, 408A, 409, 414(d), 414(e), or 457, Internal Revenue Code, including an owner’s, a participant’s, or a beneficiary’s interest that arises by inheritance, designation, appointment, or otherwise;

(xv)  the interest of or any money or other assets payable to an alternate payee under a qualified domestic relations order as those terms are defined in Section 414(p), Internal Revenue Code;

(xvi)  unpaid earnings of the household of the filing individual due as of the date of the filing of a bankruptcy petition in the amount of 1/24 of the Utah State annual median family income for the household size of the filing individual as determined by the Utah State Annual Median Family Income reported by the United States Census Bureau and as adjusted based upon the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for an individual whose unpaid earnings are paid more often than once a month or, if unpaid earnings are not paid more often than once a month, then in the amount of 1/12 of the Utah State annual median family income for the household size of the individual as determined by the Utah State Annual Median Family Income reported by the United States Census Bureau and as adjusted based upon the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers;

(xvii)  except for curio or relic firearms, as defined in Section 76-10-501, any three of the following:

(A)  one handgun and ammunition for the handgun not exceeding 1,000 rounds;

(B)  one shotgun and ammunition for the shotgun not exceeding 1,000 rounds; and

(C)  one shoulder arm and ammunition for the shoulder arm not exceeding 1,000 rounds; and

(xviii)  money, not exceeding $200,000, in the aggregate, that an individual deposits, more than 18 months before the day on which the individual files a petition for bankruptcy or an action is filed by a creditor against the individual, as applicable, in all tax-advantaged accounts for saving for higher education costs on behalf of a particular individual that meets the requirements of Section 529, Internal Revenue Code.

(b) 

(i)  Any money, asset, or other interest in a fund or account that is exempt from a claim of a creditor of the owner, beneficiary, or participant under Subsection (1)(a)(xiv) does not cease to be exempt after the owner’s, participant’s, or beneficiary’s death by reason of a direct transfer or eligible rollover to an inherited individual retirement account as defined in Section 408(d)(3), Internal Revenue Code.

(ii)  Subsections (1)(a)(xiv) and (1)(b)(i) apply to all inherited individual retirement accounts without regard to the date on which the account was created.

(c) 

(i)  The exemption granted by Subsection (1)(a)(xiv) does not apply to:

(A)  an alternate payee under a qualified domestic relations order, as those terms are defined in Section 414(p), Internal Revenue Code; or

(B)  amounts contributed or benefits accrued by or on behalf of a debtor within one year before the debtor files for bankruptcy, except amounts directly rolled over from other funds that are exempt from attachment under this section.

(ii)  The exemptions in Subsections (1)(a)(xi), (xii), and (xiii) do not apply to the secured creditor’s interest in proceeds and avails of any matured or unmatured life insurance contract assigned or pledged as collateral for repayment of a loan or other legal obligation.

(2) 

(a)  Disability benefits, as described in Subsection (1)(a)(iii)(A), and veterans benefits, as described in Subsection (1)(a)(v), may be garnished on behalf of a victim who is a child if the person receiving the benefits has been convicted of a felony sex offense against the victim and ordered by the sentencing court to pay restitution to the victim.

(b)  The exemption from execution under this Subsection (2) shall be reinstated upon payment of the restitution in full.

(3)  The exemptions under this section do not limit items that may be claimed as exempt under Section 78B-5-506.

(4) 

(a)  The exemptions described in Subsections (1)(a)(iii), (iv), (vi), (vii), (x), (xii), (xiii), (xiv), (xv), (xvii), and (xviii) do not apply to a civil accounts receivable or a civil judgment of restitution for an individual who is found in contempt under Section 78B-6-317.

(b)  Subsection (4)(a) does not apply to the benefits described in Subsection (1)(a)(iii) if the individual’s dependent received, or is entitled to receive, the benefits.

Amended by Chapter 260, 2021 General Session