Opinion ID: 1176286
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Value and Award of Personal Property

Text: The personal representative is required, under section 75-3-705, to prepare an inventory of property owned by the decedent at the time of his death, listing it with reasonable detail, and indicating as to each listed item, its fair market value as of the date of the decedent's death.  (Emphasis added.) The probate court admitted into evidence exhibits of checks written by the decedent to the furniture company for the furniture bought and listed its fair market value as the purchase price ten days prior to Mr. Wagley's death. The evidence is uncontroverted that the couple bought and used the furniture during their short marriage and that it could not have been returned as new on the date of Mr. Wagley's death. It was therefore error for the probate court to appraise the furniture at the purchase price, and upon remand, appellant should employ a qualified and disinterested appraiser to assist her in ascertaining the fair market value of the furniture on the date of Mr. Wagley's death. See § 75-3-706. Appellant had miscellaneous personal property appraised at $85 which the probate court rejected and for which it required a second appraisal to be undertaken by the court's own appraiser. The probate court clearly exceeded its authority under the UUPC, which gives that authority to the personal representative. See § 75-3-706; see also editorial board comment to § 75-3-705 (This and the following sections eliminate the practice now required by many probate statutes under which the judge is involved in the selection of appraisers.). No objections were raised by the heirs of Mr. Wagley to the appraiser's appraisal of the miscellaneous personal property, and no breach of duty on the part of the personal representative was alleged. The probate court therefore had no statutory basis upon which to reject her appraisal. Appellant also claims that the furniture purchased in contemplation of marriage should have been awarded to her outright and not made part of the estate of the decedent. The probate court found that appellant's intestate share as omitted spouse under a will executed by Mr. Wagley during his first marriage was one-half of the decedent's estate. § 75-2-102(d). Absent a testamentary disposition to the contrary, the probate court properly found that the furniture became part of the decedent's estate. The question of ownership here was a question of fact on which this Court defers to the probate court absent clear error. Utah R.Civ.P. 52(a); Lemon v. Coates, 735 P.2d 58 (Utah 1987).