U/T/A
Under Trust Agreement.
UAA
Uniform Arbitration Act
UBI
Unrelated Business Income.
UBT
Unrelated Business Tax.
UBIT
Unrelated Business Income Tax.
UBTI
Unrelated Business Taxable Income.
UCA
Unemployment Compensation Amendments of 1992 (P. L. 102-318).
UCC
Uniform Commercial Code.
UCL
Unfair Competition Law.
UCR
Usual, Customary and Reasonable.
UD
Unlawful Detainer.
UDPIA
Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act.
UFADAA
Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act.
UFTA
Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act. Replaced by UVTA.
UGMA
Uniform Gifts to Minors Act.
UGPPA
Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act.
UIP
Ultimate Income Portfolio.
ULC
Uniform Law Commission.
UMA
Unified Managed Accounts.
UMBI
Uninsured Motorist B? Insurance.
UMIFA
Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act.
Unborn Widow
One of the fantastic presumptions under the Rule Against Perpetuities.
Under 65 Trust
A “safe harbor” trust under the Medicaid laws, allowing a discretionary trust to be established for a person who is under the age of 65 and allowing the assets in such a trust to be ignored for Medicaid eligibility purposes, if the trust provides for reimbursement to the state on the death of the beneficiary.
Undivided Interest
A share of property that has not been physically set aside or divided, such as a joint interest in a home or a tenancy in common in stocks.
Undue Influence
Persuading a person to change his will in a way he would not have done on his own.
Unfunded Trust
Means the trust has no corpus, or only a nominal corpus that just barely supports the legal existence of the trust, usually used in conjunction with life insurance or pour over will.
Unified Credit
Federal gift taxes and estate taxes have been combined. Each U.S. citizen is entitled to a credit against the amount of federal gift and estate tax owed.
Uniform Custodial Trust Act of 1987
This act allows standard trust provisions to be incorporated by reference.
Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act
Updates and replaces three earlier Uniform Acts from 1978. It is the most comprehensive disclaimer statute yet written and is designed to allow every sort of disclaimer, including those that are useful for tax planning purposes. A disclaimer is simply a declaration by a person entitled to property that the interest in that property is renounced or extinguished as if the interest had never been granted. Disclaimers are used to reallocate interests in estates, trusts and other kinds of property holdings in which benefits may be allocated at death. This Act makes it clearer that trustees and other fiduciaries may use disclaimers, that powers of appointment may be disclaimed, and that unfair distributions of interests are avoided when disclaimers are used.
Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act
Approved in 1971 and adopted in 14 jurisdictions.
Uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act
Uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act was created by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law (NCCUSL) in 2003. The 2003 version is a revision of earlier acts from 1958, 1964, and 1982. This act provides procedures for apportioning the burden of estate taxes among beneficiaries. Generally, the tax burden is allocated to the interests of estate or trust beneficiaries in proportion to their interests in the whole of the taxable estate. Statutory apportionment applies only to the extent there is no clear and effective decedent’s tax burden direction to the contrary. Under the statutory scheme, marital and charitable beneficiaries generally are insulated from bearing any of the estate tax, and a decedent’s direction that estate tax be paid from a gift to be shared by a spouse or charity with another is construed to locate the tax burden only on the taxable portion of the gift. The Act provides relief for persons forced to pay estate tax on values passing to others whose interests, though contributing to the tax, are unreachable by the fiduciary. The Act also addresses the allocation of the burden incurred because of several federal transfer tax provisions that did not exist when the 1964 Act was adopted. The act has been adopted by Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Massachusetts, New Mexico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington. In 2010, Minnesota adopted the act. In California estate tax apportionment is dealt with in California Probate Code §§ 20110 – 20117.
Uniform Gifts To Minors Act / Uniform Transfers To Minors Act
One or the other version of this law has been adopted by all states. Both laws entitle an adult to set up a custodial account for the benefit of a minor child and to transfer to the account certain types of assets. An adult – a custodian – will manage the assets for the child’s benefit, and when the minor becomes a legal adult, he or she gets control over whatever is left in the account. In some states, the adult who sets up the account can require that the child wait until he or she turns 25 to receive the assets.
Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act
Article 5 of the Uniform Probate Code deals with guardianships and conservatorships. It was originally promulgated in 1968. Article 5 was extensively revised in 1982. In addition, a separate, free-standing Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act was derived from Article 5 at that same time. In 1997, an extensively revised Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act (1997) has been promulgated by the Uniform Law Commissioners to replace the 1982 free-standing act.
Guardians and conservators are court-appointed officials, or officials chosen by parents for minors or incapacitated adults who are in the care of their parents. Guardians may be appointed to care for unemancipated minors (children) who have lost their parents to death or incapacitation or for whom parental authority has been legally terminated. Guardians may also be appointed to care for adults who have become incapacitated and who cannot, therefore, take care of themselves. Guardians care for the person, who is called a ward, under the UGPPA.
Conservators are appointed to receive, invest, manage, and disburse property held for a minor or an incapacitated person. A conservator is always appointed by an appropriate court. Conservators are like trustees of a trust and are fiduciaries, who must receive, invest, manage and disburse property in the interests of the protected person. In UGPPA, the incapacitated person or minor for whom a conservator is appointed is called a protected person.
Conservators will not be appointed in every case in which a minor or incapacitated person has property that must be managed. A conservator is likely to be appointed only when there is sufficient quantity and quality of property to warrant the creation of a court-supervised conservatorship. There are other alternatives that will work in many cases, such as agents under durable or springing powers of attorney and trustees of trusts, including custodial trusts as provided for in the Uniform Custodial Trust Act. If there is an appointed guardian of the person, and no conservator, the guardian must assume obligations to receive and expend assets for the benefit of the ward, in the absence of any other arrangement for dealing with property.
Much of UGPPA provides procedures for appointment of guardians and conservators. A person who may need a guardian or conservator cannot be subjected to a court appointed one without a hearing in which the respondent (alleged incapacitated person or minor) must be present if at all possible, may be represented by counsel, may present evidence and cross-examine witnesses. The court has broad discretion to appoint counsel for the respondent and there must be a visitor to report to the court (More about legal counsel and visitors later). Every effort is made to provide a respondent with a fair and impartial proceeding.
UGPPA provides for limited guardianships and conservatorships. A guardian or conservator obtains only the powers over the ward or protected person that are the least restrictive possible. The objective is to provide maximum personal freedom from authority for the ward or protected person.
Uniform Individual Accident and Sickness Policy Provisions Law
NAIC model law that establishes uniform terms, provisions, and standards for health insurance policies covering loss “resulting from sickness or from bodily injury or death by accident or both.” There are 12 mandatory and 11 optional provisions. Wording does not need to be exact; however, it must be at least equal or more favorable. The Insurance License test refers to this law as the Uniform Policy Provision Law.
Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act of 1972
This act has been superseded by the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act of 2006.
Uniform Parentage Act
Uniform act for establishing legal parentage, especially legal paternity.
Uniform Policy Provision Law
See Uniform Individual Accident and Sickness Policy Provisions Law.
Uniform Premarital Agreement
The Uniform Premarital Agreement Act (UPAA) is a Uniform Act governing prenuptial agreements. It was drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1983.The UPAA has been adopted by 27 states (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin). The UPAA has been introduced in 2009 and not yet adopted in these states (Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and West Virginia).
Uniform Principal and Income Act
The Uniform Principal and Income Act (UPAIA) is one of the uniform acts that have been promulgated in an attempt to harmonize the law in all fifty U.S. states. The Act was completed by the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1997, and amended in 2000.
The purpose of the UPAIA (sometimes referred to as the UPIA) is to provide procedures by which trustees administering trusts, and personal representatives administering estates, allocate receipts and payments to principal and income. The aim of the law is to ensure that the intention of the trust creator or decedent is carried out, and to govern the proper distribution of assets to trust beneficiaries, heirs and devisees.
Uniform Probate Code
The Uniform Probate Code (commonly abbreviated UPC) is a uniform act drafted by National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) governing inheritance and the decedents’ estates in the United States. The primary purposes of the act were to streamline the probate process and to standardize and modernize the various state laws governing wills, trusts, and intestacy.
Uniform Prudent Investor Act
See Prudent Investor Act.
Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act
California law governing the management, investment and spending of donor–created endowment funds held by charitable organizations has recently changed. Until January 1, 2009, endowment funds were regulated by the Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act (“UMIFA”), but endowment funds established after January 1, 2009 (the “Effective Date”) will be regulated by the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (“UPMIFA”).
Uniform Simultaneous Death Act
The Act specifies that, if two or more people die within 120 hours of one another, and no Will or other document provides for this situation explicitly, each is considered to have predeceased the others. However, the Act contains a clause that states if the end result would be an intestate estate escheating to the state, the 120-hour rule is not to be applied. This act was not adopted by California. In California it is covered by Probate Code §§220-234.
Uniform Statutory Form Power of Attorney Act
Implemented in California at Probate §4401.
Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities
Provides that a trust may last at least 90 years before the common law rule is applied. California Probate Code §21205. This 90-year “wait and see” approach in USRAP now applies in most states.
Uniform Statutory Will Act
Uniform statute to simplify the drafting of wills.
Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trust Act
Uniform act regarding the transfer of property to a pre-existing trust by a Will.
Uniform Transfer-on-Death Securities Registration
California law that allows one to name someone top inherit your stocks, bonds, or brokerage accounts without probate. When ownership is registered, you make a request to take ownership in “beneficiary form.” Beneficiary has no rights to stock, bonds, trading account while owner is alive, but upon owner’s death, the beneficiary can claim the securities without probate.
Uniform Transfer to Minors Act
Set of statutes adopted by California which provides a way for someone to give or leave property to a minor by appointing a “custodian” to manage the property for the minor.
Uniform Trust Code
The Uniform Trust Code’ is a model law in the United States, which although not binding, is influential in the states, and used by many as a model law. As of October 2009, 24 states have adopted some substantive form of the UTC with three others having introduced it into the legislature for adoption.
Uniform Trustees’ Powers Act
Model uniform act containing powers of trustees.
Unitrust
A unitrust, also known as a charitable remainder trust, is a legal device defined by federal tax laws that is frequently used by wealthy individuals who wish to make a substantial contribution to a school or charitable organization. To establish a unitrust, a donor transfers property to a trust, while retaining the right to receive payments from the trust for a term chosen by the donor. The payments may continue for the lifetime of the trust’s named beneficiaries, a fixed term of not more than twenty years, or a combination of the two. Usually, the term is for the donor’s life and the life of the donor’s spouse. When the term has ended, the trust estate is paid to a public charity designated by the donor.
A right of property, real or personal, held by one person, the trustee, for the benefit of another, the beneficiary, from which a fixed percentage of the net fair market value of the assets, valued annually, is paid each year to the beneficiary.
UPA
Uniform Parentage Act.
UPAA
Uniform Premarital Agreement Act.
UPAIA
Uniform Principal and Income Act.
UPC
Uniform Probate Code.
UPIA
Uniform Prudent Investor Act; Uniform Principal and Income Act.
UPL
Unlawful Practice of Law.
UPMIFA
Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act.
USCIS
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
USERRA
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.
USPTO
United States Patent and Trademark Office.
USRAP
Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities.
USVA
United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
USWA
Uniform Statutory Will Act.
UTC
Uniform Trust Code.
UTD
Under Trust Dated _____.
Utilization Review
A technique used by health care providers to determine, after the fact, if health care was appropriate and effective.
UTMA
Uniform Transfer to Minors Act; Uniform Trust to Minors Account.
UVTA
Uniform Voidable Transactions Act. Replaced UFTA.