How to Make a Will in Utah (2026): Requirements, Witnesses, Self-Proving Affidavit

Updated August 4, 2026. Quick answer for Utah: nobody publishes a reliable, state-specific median for what a will costs here, and the figures you will see quoted — including ours — are national. Anyone showing you a precise Utah number is estimating. What is genuinely Utah-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed. The detail worth knowing before you sign anything: what is genuinely Utah-specific is how a will has to be executed, and that is what decides whether the document works at all.

Putting a loan in writing? The interest limit, the signing rules and the time limit to sue, from the state’s own statutes: Utah promissory note.

The honest position on Utah pricing

We publish a national attorney median for a simple will of $625 (middle 50% $450–$1,000) and a DIY platform range of $129–$599. Attorney figures are the national medians from the LegalTemplates 2026 survey of 909 firms, verified July 23, 2026. They are national, not state-specific. Geographic multipliers are widely republished, but the primary source for them blocks automated verification, so we will not apply one to Utah and present the result as a Utah figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.

What Utah law actually requires

This is the part that is genuinely state-specific, and the part that decides whether the document works at all. Every line below is read from the statute, with the citation attached:

• Witnesses: 2. Utah Code § 75-2-502(1)(c)
• If a beneficiary witnesses it: the witness is competent and the gift is unaffected — unusual, and worth knowing. Utah Code § 75-2-505(2)
• Notary required for the will to be valid: no. A notary is not what makes a will valid here — the witnesses are. Utah Code § 75-2-502
• Self-proving affidavit: available. Signing one at the same time as the will is what saves your executor from tracking witnesses down years later. Utah Code § 75-2-504(1)
• Handwritten (holographic) wills: recognised. Valid whether or not witnessed if the signature and material provisions are in the testator’s handwriting. Utah Code § 75-2-502(2)
• Electronic wills: recognised. Utah Code § 75-2-1403(1)

The full 44-jurisdiction comparison is on what each state requires for a will to be valid. Whether a beneficiary may witness is covered nationally on can a beneficiary witness a will, and the notary question on does a will need to be notarised.

Does Utah give you a free form?

No. We found no complete statutory will form in the Utah code. California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin each print one in their own codes. In Utah your realistic routes are a DIY platform, a flat-fee attorney will, or an hourly engagement if the estate is complicated.

What skipping it costs in Utah

Utah sets probate compensation using “reasonable” compensation with no percentage schedule. The two numbers that decide what an estate actually pays are the fee basis and the small-estate threshold.

Fee basis: UPC state: reasonable compensation for personal representative (Utah Code §75-3-718); attorney fees reasonable. No percentage schedule.

Small-estate threshold: $100,000 value of the entire estate subject to administration, less liens and encumbrances — Utah Code § 75-3-1201 (amended by Chapter 123, 2025 General Session).

A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Utah’s intestacy statute instead of by you, and it lets you name the executor rather than leaving the court to appoint one. The arithmetic on the other side is on what probate costs in Utah.

What a will costs nationally — every route priced, and the four situations where DIY fails.

Statutory text read at the state’s own legislature or official code site. Pricing figures are national and dated above. General information, not legal advice.