Utah Asset Exemptions and the Claim That Cuts Through
Utah Code 78B-5-508 lets a creditor levy against exempt property of any kind, except unemployment benefits, to enforce a claim for alimony, support or maintenance, for unpaid earnings of up to one month’s compensation for an employee’s personal services, or for state or local taxes.
The Short Version
Utah Code 78B-5-508 carries two lists of claims that reach exempt property: the (1)(a) claims named above, and a second list tied to the item itself – its purchase price, the labor or materials furnished for it, and a special assessment for a public improvement benefiting it. Claims outside those two lists meet the schedule in 78B-5-505 and 78B-5-506 and the homestead in 78B-5-503, each narrower and more procedural than its headline number. This page is general legal information, not legal advice.
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78B-5-502: What “Exempt” Means in Utah, and the One-Acre Line
Part 5 of Title 78B, Chapter 5 is the Utah Exemptions Act. Under 78B-5-502(6), “exempt” means protected, and “exemption” means protection from subjection to a judicial process to collect an unsecured debt – a defence against unsecured collection, not against a security interest or a statutory lien, and 78B-5-508(2) says that section does not affect the right to enforce either one in exempt property. Under 78B-5-502(14), “value” means the fair market value of an individual’s interest in property, exclusive of valid liens, so every cap below is a cap on equity. And a “primary personal residence” under 78B-5-503(1)(c) is a dwelling or mobile home and the land surrounding it, not exceeding one acre, as is reasonably necessary for the use of the dwelling, in which the individual and the individual’s household reside. On a larger parcel the acreage past that acre falls outside the primary personal residence – but not outside the homestead. 78B-5-503(2)(a)(i) fixes the exemption at $5,000 in value where the property consists in whole or in part of property that is not the primary personal residence.
78B-5-508: In Utah the Claim Decides, Not the Asset
Utah Code 78B-5-508 opens “Notwithstanding other provisions of this part, but subject to the provisions of the Utah Uniform Consumer Credit Code”, and then names the claims that go through the wall. Under (1)(a) a creditor may levy against exempt property of any kind, except unemployment benefits, to enforce a claim for alimony, support, or maintenance; for unpaid earnings of up to one month’s compensation, or the full-time equivalent, for personal services of an employee; or for state or local taxes.
A second list attaches to the item rather than the debtor. Under (1)(c) a creditor may levy against exempt property to enforce a claim for the purchase price of that property, or a loan made to enable its purchase; for labor or materials furnished to make, repair, improve, preserve, store, or transport the specific property; and for a special assessment imposed to defray the costs of a public improvement benefiting it. Two limits keep this honest: (1)(a)(ii) is a creditor-side carve-out for a claim for unpaid earnings, not a second exemption for the debtor, and (1)(b) allows only the deductions listed in Section 35A-4-103 to be withheld from unemployment benefits.
Under 78B-5-509 a waiver of exemptions executed in favor of an unsecured creditor before levy is unenforceable, so a waiver signed at origination buys nothing here. Under 78B-5-511 the individual, or that individual’s spouse or dependent, is entitled to injunctive relief, damages, or both against a creditor to prevent or redress a violation of the Part, with costs and reasonable attorney fees available. If you would rather have that record work done for you, start a Utah asset search request.
78B-5-503 and 78B-5-504: A Homestead That Is a Formula, and a Claim You Can Lose by Silence
Utah Code 78B-5-503(2)(a) entitles an individual to a homestead exemption not exceeding $42,000 in value where the property claimed is the primary personal residence, and $5,000 where it is not. On jointly owned property each joint owner is entitled to an exemption, except that the maximum may not exceed $84,000 per household for a primary residence or $10,000 per household otherwise. “Household” is defined in the same section as persons related by blood or marriage living together in the same dwelling as an economic unit, sharing furnishings, facilities, accommodations, and expenses – so the ceiling merges the claims of co-owners who are one household on that definition, and does not merge co-owners who are not.
Those printed amounts carry a date range on the face of the statute. 78B-5-503(2)(e)(ii) states that the dollar amounts in Subsections (2)(a) and (b) are for May 14, 2019, through December 31, 2019, and (2)(e)(iii) directs the state auditor, for calendar year 2020 and every year after, to recalculate each amount by multiplying it by the average index number, dividing by 251 and rounding to the nearest 100 dollars, and to publish the result on the Office of the State Auditor website no later than January 1.
| Property claimed | Individual amount, 503(2)(a) | Maximum per household, 503(2)(b) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary personal residence (dwelling or mobile home plus up to one acre) | $42,000 | $84,000 |
| Property that consists in whole or in part of property that is not the primary personal residence (other real property, or the acreage past the one acre) | $5,000 | $10,000 |
For calendar year 2026 the subsection directs the state auditor to calculate and publish new amounts: that publication could not be located on the Office of the State Auditor website on September 2, 2026. That is a statement about what could be located that day, not a claim that nothing is published. Either way, confirm the figure with the court or with Utah counsel, because the subsection directs a fresh calculation for each calendar year.
78B-5-503(3) exempts it from judicial lien and from levy, execution, or forced sale except for statutory liens for property taxes and assessments; security interests and judicial liens for debts created for the purchase price; judicial liens on debts created by failure to provide support or maintenance for dependent children; and consensual liens created by mutual contract. Water rights come in under (4) to the extent necessarily employed in supplying water to the homestead, and under (5)(b) sale proceeds stay exempt for one year after receipt.
78B-5-504 requires a signed and acknowledged declaration of homestead filed with the county recorder, or served on the sheriff or other officer conducting an execution before the time stated in the notice of execution. Subsection (3) is blunt about doing neither: if a declaration is not filed or served as the section provides, title shall pass to the purchaser upon execution free and clear of all homestead rights. Where a declaration is made, (5) bars an execution sale on a bid that does not exceed the declared exemption and (6) makes the sale subject to redemption under Rule 69C of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure and bars a second execution for a deficiency.
78B-5-505 and 78B-5-506: What Utah Protects Outright, and the Four Categories at $1,000
The 78B-5-505 list as amended by Chapter 260, 2026 General Session; the 78B-5-506 categories effective since May 12, 2015.
The no-cap grant is 78B-5-505(1)(h), not (1)(a), which is a burial plot. It exempts eleven items by category with no value ceiling: one clothes washer, one clothes dryer, one refrigerator, one freezer, one stove, one microwave oven, one sewing machine, all carpets in use, provisions sufficient for 12 months, all wearing apparel not including jewelry or furs, and all beds and bedding. Retirement money is (1)(n), including an inherited fund or account, which (2)(b) extends to inherited accounts regardless of when created, while (2)(c)(ii) removes amounts contributed within one year before the debtor files for bankruptcy. The same list adds (1)(q), any three of one handgun, one shotgun and one shoulder arm with ammunition not exceeding 1,000 rounds each, excepting curio or relic firearms; (1)(r), up to $200,000 in Section 529 education accounts deposited more than 18 months before a bankruptcy petition or an action filed by a creditor; and (1)(s), the full federal refund attributed to an earned income tax credit or child tax credit.
78B-5-506 runs on its own numbers. Subsection (1) exempts up to an aggregate of $1,000 in each of four categories – sofas and related furnishings; dining and kitchen tables and chairs; animals, books and musical instruments; heirlooms – and subsection (2) exempts implements, professional books or tools of the trade to $5,000 aggregate, including a vehicle carrying no other exemption. The single motor vehicle at $3,000 is (3)(b), and (3)(a) puts vehicles designed for or used primarily for recreation outside that definition, naming an off-highway vehicle under Section 41-22-2 and a recreational vehicle under Section 13-14-102, excepting a motorcycle or van in regular daily use. Back in 505, the later subsections cut the list back: (3) subordinates the life-insurance exemptions to a secured creditor’s interest in a pledged policy, (4) permits garnishment of disability and veterans benefits on behalf of a child victim where the recipient was convicted of a felony sex offense and ordered to pay restitution, and (5) disapplies eleven exemptions to a civil accounts receivable or civil judgment of restitution for an individual found in contempt under Section 78B-6-317.
Exempt, and Which Claims Cut Through Anyway
| Asset class | Utah treatment | Reached anyway by | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary personal residence | Exempt to the $42,000 base figure, $84,000 per household | The 508(1)(a) claims, plus the 503(3) exceptions: property taxes, purchase-price and consensual liens, child-support judicial liens | 78B-5-503 |
| Other real property, or the acreage past the one acre | Exempt to the $5,000 base figure, $10,000 per household | The 508(1)(a) claims and the 503(3) exceptions | 78B-5-503 |
| One motor vehicle | Exempt to $3,000; recreational and off-highway vehicles are outside the definition | The 508(1)(a) claims; purchase price, repair, storage or transport of that vehicle | 78B-5-506(3) |
| Tools of the trade | Exempt to $5,000 aggregate | The 508(1)(a) claims; purchase price, labor or materials furnished | 78B-5-506(2) |
| Furnishings, tables, animals, heirlooms | Exempt to $1,000 within each of four categories | The 508(1)(a) claims; purchase-price and repair claims on the item | 78B-5-506(1) |
| The eleven household items | Exempt by category, no dollar cap | The 508(1)(a) claims; purchase-price and repair claims on the item | 78B-5-505(1)(h) |
| Retirement and inherited accounts | Exempt, except contributions within one year before a bankruptcy filing | The 508(1)(a) claims; a QDRO alternate payee; the 505(5) contempt carve-out | 78B-5-505(1)(n) |
| Wages held by an employer | Capped for a judgment arising from a consumer credit agreement | 508 is expressed as subject to the Utah Uniform Consumer Credit Code | 70C-7-103 |
| Bank and brokerage balances | No general cash or wildcard exemption in the Act; money traceable to a listed source stays exempt | An ordinary unsecured judgment reaches what is not traceably exempt | 78B-5-507 |
78B-5-507 and 70C-7-103: Exempt Money After It Lands, and the Wage Cap
Utah answers the commingling question with a closed list. Under 78B-5-507(3), money or other property exempt under 78B-5-505(1)(c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (m), (n), or (r) remains exempt after receipt by the individual, while in possession of the individual, or in any other form into which the money or property is traceable – a list that reaches the retirement and inherited accounts in (1)(n) and the seasoned Section 529 money in (1)(r). The list is enumerated, and it does not carry every exemption in 78B-5-505 into money in hand. 78B-5-507(4) allows first-in first-out, last-in last-out, or any other reasonable basis for tracing selected by the individual, while (2) is scoped to a different exemption again: the exemption of proceeds under Subsection (1) does not entitle the individual to claim an aggregate exemption in excess of the value limitation otherwise allowable under 78B-5-503 or 78B-5-506.
What none of that supplies is a general cash exemption. The Act contains no general wildcard exemption, and its one unpaid-earnings figure, 78B-5-505(1)(p), is written to unpaid earnings due “as of the date of the filing of a bankruptcy petition” and measured by the household size of “the filing individual”. Nothing here asserts how a Utah court would apply that subsection outside bankruptcy; the point is that its trigger is the one the drafters wrote, and that (1)(r) shows the same drafters naming a bankruptcy petition and a creditor’s action where they intend both.
Utah Code 70C-7-103, in the Utah Consumer Credit Code, caps the disposable earnings subject to garnishment to enforce a judgment arising from a consumer credit agreement at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings for the pay period; the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 hours per week multiplied by the federal minimum hourly wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act; or 15% where the judgment relates to an education loan as defined in the section. For a judgment that does not arise from a consumer credit agreement, the Utah State Courts’ garnishment self-help page states the ceiling for non-support judgments as the smaller of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly pay exceeds 30 times the federal minimum wage – the judiciary’s statement of the general rule, not a citation to 70C-7-103. Our guide to Utah wage garnishment rules works through the procedure.
25-6-305, 48-3a-503 and 78B-5-512: Where the Clock Runs Fastest
The deadline usually described as four years is really three deadlines. Section 25-6-305 of the Utah Uniform Voidable Transactions Act extinguishes a claim under 25-6-202(1)(a), the actual-intent branch, unless brought no later than four years after the transfer or, if later, one year after it was or could reasonably have been discovered. A claim under 25-6-202(1)(b) or 25-6-203(1) gets four years and no discovery extension. And a claim under 25-6-203(2) – a transfer to an insider for an antecedent debt while the debtor was insolvent, where the insider had reasonable cause to believe it – must be brought within one year of the transfer.
Utah’s charging-order section, numbered 48-3a-503 and stamped renumbered effective October 1, 2026, makes the charging order the exclusive remedy by which a judgment creditor may satisfy a judgment from a member’s transferable interest. Subsection (3) lets the court foreclose the lien and order the interest sold on a showing that distributions will not pay the judgment debt within a reasonable time, and subsection (6) provides that where the foreclosure runs against the sole member, the purchaser obtains the member’s entire interest rather than the transferable interest alone, becomes a member, and the debtor is dissociated.
Under 78B-5-512, where an individual and another own Utah property as joint tenants or tenants in common, a creditor of that individual – subject to the individual’s right to claim an exemption – may obtain a levy on and sale of that individual’s interest, and the creditor or a purchaser at the sale may have the property partitioned or the interest severed. Where the co-owner is a spouse, the questions in our guide to Utah marital property sit alongside this one. The outer clock is 78B-2-311: an action may be brought within eight years upon the date of entry of a judgment, or of renewal under the Renewal of Judgment Act. Lien and enforcement mechanics belong to our Utah judgment collection guide.
The Sole Member Nobody Checked
A charging order that captures nothing looks final. If the debtor is the only member, foreclosure under 48-3a-503(6) takes the entire interest, and entity filings answer the question.
The Insider Transfer That Ages Out
A transfer to a relative or affiliated entity for an antecedent debt carries a one-year window under 25-6-203(2) and 25-6-305(3). Found in month fourteen, the claim is gone.
What a Utah Asset Search Establishes, and What It Does Not
Classification runs on records. What a search cannot do is tell you the answer a court will give. We are a public-records research firm working for a creditor holding a valid judgment, or for counsel, on a permissible-purpose basis under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, documented before any search begins – whether the file arrives as an asset search or as ordinary skip tracing.
We are not a law firm and give no legal advice; whether an item is exempt is your attorney’s call. We are not a collection agency and do not contact debtors, demand payment, or collect anything. We are not a consumer reporting agency: our reports are not consumer reports and cannot be used to decide anyone’s eligibility for credit, employment, insurance, or housing. We also stop where safety is involved – where a subject appears to have left a household because of abuse, is protected by a protective order, or is being sought in connection with stalking or harassment, we decline and point the requester to the police and the court. The same work sits behind finding hidden assets, behind people search in Utah, and behind our guides to Michigan asset exemptions, Colorado asset exemptions and Rhode Island asset exemptions. This page is general legal information about Utah law, not legal advice.
Record the Purpose and the Identifiers
A Utah judgment or one domesticated here, a permissible purpose, and identifiers strong enough to search a county recorder index for a 78B-5-504 declaration of homestead and the entity filings for a membership interest: full name, last known address, date of birth, employer, entity names. A handle or a first name is not a starting point.
Search the Record Against the Statute
Parcels and acreage, titled vehicles including recreational ones, entity filings and membership, recorded transfers with dates – the categories 78B-5-503 through 78B-5-508 actually turn on.
Deliver a Sourced Picture
Each item with the source it came from, so counsel can sort it: the 508(1)(a) and (1)(c) claims that go through the wall, the 503(3) exceptions to the homestead, and what a declaration never filed under 78B-5-504 would cost at an execution sale. A first written read typically comes back within 24 hours.
Judgment Creditors
Parcel acreage against 503(2)(a)
Collections Counsel
78B-5-511 exposure before the levy
Family-Law Counsel
Support claims under 78B-5-508
Out-of-State Creditors
Judgments domesticated in Utah
Our Commitment
For a creditor holding a valid Utah judgment and a permissible purpose, we search public records and licensed databases for what these sections actually turn on, and report what those sources show, each item attributed to its source. Lawful public-records research for creditors and counsel since 2004.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Utah homestead exemption amount for the current year?
78B-5-503(2)(a) prints $42,000 for a primary personal residence and $5,000 for other real property, with per-household maximums of $84,000 and $10,000, and (2)(e)(ii) states those are the amounts for May 14, 2019 through December 31, 2019. From 2020 the state auditor recalculates them on a Consumer Price Index formula and publishes the result by January 1. That publication could not be located on the Auditor’s website on September 2, 2026, so confirm the operative amount with the court or Utah counsel. General legal information, not legal advice.
Can a Utah creditor levy exempt property to collect child support or back taxes?
Yes, on the face of the statute – those are two of the three claim types in 78B-5-508(1)(a), which reaches exempt property of any kind other than unemployment benefits. The third is unpaid earnings of up to one month’s compensation for an employee’s personal services. Subsection (1)(c) adds a separate route tied to the item itself: its purchase price, the labor or materials furnished for it, and a special assessment for a public improvement benefiting it.
What happens if a Utah debtor never files a homestead declaration?
78B-5-504 lets an individual claim a homestead by filing a signed and acknowledged declaration with the county recorder, or by serving one on the sheriff or other officer conducting an execution before the time stated in the notice of execution. Subsection (3) provides that if a declaration is not filed or served as the section requires, title shall pass to the purchaser upon execution free and clear of all homestead rights.
Is an RV, ATV or side-by-side covered by Utah’s $3,000 vehicle exemption?
Not on the face of the statute. 78B-5-506(3)(b) exempts one motor vehicle up to $3,000, and (3)(a) provides that motor vehicle in that subsection does not include a vehicle designed for or used primarily for recreational purposes, naming an off-highway vehicle under Section 41-22-2 and a recreational vehicle under Section 13-14-102. The exceptions are a motorcycle or a van the individual regularly uses for daily transportation.
Can a Utah judgment creditor reach a single-member LLC?
The charging order is the exclusive remedy against a member’s transferable interest. On a showing that distributions will not pay the judgment debt within a reasonable time the court may foreclose the lien and order the interest sold, and where the foreclosure runs against the sole member the purchaser obtains the member’s entire interest, becomes a member, and the debtor is dissociated. The section is numbered 48-3a-503 and is stamped renumbered effective October 1, 2026.
How long does a Utah creditor have to challenge a transfer?
Section 25-6-305 sets three windows. Under 25-6-202(1)(a), actual intent, four years after the transfer or, if later, one year after it was or could reasonably have been discovered. Under 25-6-202(1)(b) or 25-6-203(1), four years with no discovery extension. Under 25-6-203(2), a transfer to an insider for an antecedent debt, one year after the transfer was made.
Is exempt money still exempt once it reaches the debtor’s bank account?
For some sources. 78B-5-507(3) provides that money or property exempt under 78B-5-505(1)(c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (m), (n), or (r) remains exempt after receipt, while in the individual’s possession, or in any other form into which it is traceable. That enumerated list does not cover every exemption in 78B-5-505. Under 78B-5-507(4) tracing may be first-in first-out, last-in last-out, or any other reasonable basis selected by the individual.
Do you decide what is exempt, or collect the judgment?
Neither. We are a public-records research firm, not a law firm and not a collection agency, and we are not a consumer reporting agency: our reports are not consumer reports and cannot be used to decide anyone’s eligibility for credit, employment, insurance, or housing. We research public records and licensed databases under a permissible purpose and report what those sources show. Your attorney decides what is exempt and handles any court process.
Holding a Utah Judgment Against Property That Looks Exempt?
We research what the Utah record shows a debtor owns and report it with sources, so your counsel can classify it under 78B-5-503 through 78B-5-508. Contact us to start.
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