You inherited an interest in Utah, or you are about to. Here is what the state actually requires to put it in your name, what can take it away if you do nothing, where the money goes when the operator cannot find you, and the order to do things in. Written by a mineral buyer who pays for the probate on a committed deal, so read it with that in mind.
Updated November 2026. Written by Stephen Clayman, career landman and owner of Berlin Royalties. Statutes were checked against primary sources; this is general information from a buyer, not legal advice, and the state-specific details are the reason to call a Utah attorney, not a substitute for one.
Yes. Utah's small estate affidavit reaches personal property only and the state has no heirship affidavit statute, so inherited minerals pass through probate, usually informal, with a deed of distribution recorded in the county. Utah has no dormant mineral act and its Marketable Record Title Act expressly leaves minerals alone, so an old interest is still yours; it just has to be probated.
Utah is a Uniform Probate Code state and informal probate is the norm. The Utah Code 75-3-1201 small estate affidavit, for estates up to $100,000 and usable 30 days after death, is personal property only and cannot transfer real property, which includes severed minerals. There is no affidavit of heirship statute. A nonresident's estate needs an ancillary or a separately opened Utah probate in the county where the minerals sit, with a personal representative's deed recorded.
Yes. Utah adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, Utah Code 75-6-401 and following, by HB 94 in 2018, applying to transferors dying on or after May 8, 2018. No mineral exclusion.
No. Utah has no dormant mineral statute, and the Marketable Record Title Act's 40-year rule expressly does not extinguish any interest in minerals (Utah Code 57-9-6).
Utah Code 40-6-9: payment within 180 days after the first day of the month following first sale, then within 30 days after the month the payor is paid, with suspended funds held in interest-bearing escrow. There is no automatic late interest; on petition, the Board of Oil, Gas and Mining may order 1.5 percent per month and up to a 25 percent penalty where the delay was unjustified. Our letter generator writes the statutory demand, and the full state table is on royalty payment laws by state.
Search Utah State Treasurer, mycash.utah.gov under the decedent's name and every spelling of it. Mineral proceeds have a three-year dormancy. Our unclaimed royalties hub covers the search in every state we buy in, and we run it free whether or not you sell.
No Utah estate or inheritance tax for deaths after December 31, 2004; the dormant Inheritance Tax Act was formally repealed in 2026. Inherited minerals take a federal stepped-up basis. The arithmetic is on our capital gains and depletion page, and a date-of-death appraisal is what documents the basis.
The printable version of that list, with the title path for every state, is our executor's checklist for mineral rights.
Send a photo of whatever you have. We will tell you what the family owns, what it pays, whether any money is sitting in suspense or with the state, what the title needs, and what it is worth, in writing and with the reasoning shown. Free, and the answer is the same whether or not you sell.
Get a Free Valuation Text a Check StubOr call or text 918-984-1645 and ask for Stephen.
No. Utah Code 75-3-1201 covers personal property only. Minerals need a probate with a recorded deed of distribution.
No. Utah has no dormant mineral act and its Marketable Record Title Act expressly excludes minerals under Utah Code 57-9-6.
Yes, since 2018, under Utah Code 75-6-401 and following. Record it before death and the minerals pass without probate.