Uniform Probate Code

What it means

It is a draft written by the Uniform Law Commission, not a federal law. It binds nobody until a state enacts it, and states enact different parts of it in different years.

That is why probate provisions across states so often use the same words with different numbers, and why two states that both say they follow it can still disagree about a specific rule.

Where Sahvelo names a divergence between states, the underlying cause is frequently that one adopted a later revision of the model than the other, or amended it on the way through.

Why it matters

It explains why a rule found on a national website is so often nearly right for a particular state.

It is also the reason a page has to say which states it has actually read rather than describing the model.

When you are likely to meet it

• When two states' statutes read almost identically and produce different outcomes.
• When a lawyer or an article refers to 'UPC states'.

How this varies by state

By definition. States enact different parts of it in different years, which is why two states that both follow it can still disagree about a specific rule.

Related terms

• Anti-lapse statuteThe rule that sends a gift to the children of a beneficiary who died before the person who made the will.
• Governing instrumentWhichever document actually controls an asset — a will, a trust, a beneficiary form, a deed, a partnership agreement.
• ProbateThe court process that confirms who has authority to deal with what somebody owned when they died.

Official sources

The authority this page describes, at the agency that publishes it. Sahvelo does not restate a rule from a secondary source.

• Uniform Law Commission (opens in a new tab)

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Do I need probate?