1     
HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION AMENDMENTS

2     
2018 GENERAL SESSION

3     
STATE OF UTAH

4     
Chief Sponsor: Keven J. Stratton

5     
Senate Sponsor: Todd Weiler

6     

7     LONG TITLE
8     General Description:
9          This bill modifies provisions related to homestead exemptions.
10     Highlighted Provisions:
11          This bill:
12          ▸     addresses the value of a homestead exemption; and
13          ▸     makes technical changes.
14     Money Appropriated in this Bill:
15          None
16     Other Special Clauses:
17          None
18     Utah Code Sections Affected:
19     AMENDS:
20          78B-5-503, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2013, Chapter 192
21     

22     Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
23          Section 1. Section 78B-5-503 is amended to read:
24          78B-5-503. Homestead exemption -- Definitions -- Excepted obligations -- Water
25     rights and interests -- Conveyance -- Sale and disposition -- Property right for federal tax
26     purposes.
27          (1) For purposes of this section:
28          (a) "Household" means a group of persons related by blood or marriage living together
29     in the same dwelling as an economic unit, sharing furnishings, facilities, accommodations, and
30     expenses.
31          (b) "Mobile home" [is as] means the same as that term is defined in Section 57-16-3.
32          (c) "Primary personal residence" means a dwelling or mobile home, and the land
33     surrounding it, not exceeding one acre, as is reasonably necessary for the use of the dwelling or
34     mobile home, in which the individual and the individual's household reside.
35          (d) "Property" means:
36          (i) a primary personal residence;
37          (ii) real property; or
38          (iii) an equitable interest in real property awarded to a person in a divorce decree by a
39     court.
40          (2) (a) An individual is entitled to a homestead exemption consisting of property in this
41     state in an amount not exceeding:
42          (i) $5,000 in value if the property consists in whole or in part of property [which] that is
43     not the primary personal residence of the individual; or
44          (ii) [$30,000] $200,000 in value if the property claimed is the primary personal
45     residence of the individual.
46          (b) If the property claimed as exempt is jointly owned, each joint owner is entitled to a
47     homestead exemption[; however(i)], except that:
48          (i) for property exempt under Subsection (2)(a)(i), the maximum exemption may not
49     exceed $10,000 per household; or
50          (ii) for property exempt under Subsection (2)(a)(ii), the maximum exemption may not
51     exceed [$60,000] $300,000 per household.
52          (c) A person may claim a homestead exemption in either or both of the following:
53          (i) one or more parcels of real property together with appurtenances and improvements;
54     or
55          (ii) a mobile home in which the claimant resides.
56          (d) A person may not claim a homestead exemption for property that the person
57     acquired as a result of criminal activity.
58          (3) A homestead is exempt from judicial lien and from levy, execution, or forced sale
59     except for:
60          (a) statutory liens for property taxes and assessments on the property;
61          (b) security interests in the property and judicial liens for debts created for the purchase
62     price of the property;
63          (c) judicial liens obtained on debts created by failure to provide support or maintenance
64     for dependent children; and
65          (d) consensual liens obtained on debts created by mutual contract.
66          (4) (a) Except as provided in Subsection (4)(b), water rights and interests, either in the
67     form of corporate stock or otherwise, owned by the homestead claimant are exempt from
68     execution to the extent that those rights and interests are necessarily employed in supplying
69     water to the homestead for domestic and irrigating purposes.
70          (b) Those water rights and interests are not exempt from calls or assessments and sale
71     by the corporations issuing the stock.
72          (5) (a) When a homestead is conveyed by the owner of the property, the conveyance
73     may not subject the property to any lien to which [it] the property would not be subject in the
74     hands of the owner.
75          (b) The proceeds of any sale, to the amount of the exemption existing at the time of
76     sale, is exempt from levy, execution, or other process for one year after the receipt of the
77     proceeds by the person entitled to the exemption.
78          (6) The sale and disposition of one homestead does not prevent the selection or
79     purchase of another.
80          (7) For purposes of any claim or action for taxes brought by the United States Internal
81     Revenue Service, a homestead exemption claimed on real property in this state is considered to
82     be a property right.




Legislative Review Note
Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel