The Supreme Court or Judicial Council has approved and adopted the following rules, which rules are effective on the date indicated. To view the newly adopted rules, click on any rule number.
Under circumstances described in CJA Rules 2-205 or 11-105, certain rules may have been adopted prior to a public comment period. The public is provided the opportunity to provide comment on those rules during the 45 days following the adoption of any such rule. To review and comment, click on the “LINKS” tab directly below. Then click on “Proposed Rule Amendments Published for Comment” to be taken to the page where links to rules subject to public comment are located.
Posted: August 19, 2024
URCrP008. Appointment of Counsel. Amend. The Committee’s work on URCrP 8 focused on addressing the qualifications of attorneys appointed on capital cases and making language consistent throughout the Rule.
Posted: March 1, 2024
URCrP007B. Preliminary examinations. Amended. Having passed the Senate, HJR013 is now in effect, which amends Rule 7B of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure. The amendments to Rule 7B permit a court to find probable cause at a preliminary examination based on reasonable hearsay and control what witnesses a prosecutor may call, subject to direct and cross examination.
Posted: March 13, 2023
URCrP007B. Preliminary Examinations. In its 2023 legislative session, the Utah Legislature approved SJR006, modifying Rule 7B of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure. The amendment clarifies the extent to which a magistrate may use hearsay evidence to find probable cause in a preliminary examination.
URCrP016. Discovery. In its 2023 legislative session, the Utah Legislature approved SJR006, modifying Rule 16 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure. The amendment requires prosecutors to disclose all evidence relied upon when filing an information and creates a deadline for such disclosure.
Posted: February 7, 2023
URCrP002. Time. Amend. The Rule is amended to adjust how time is computed following the adoption of Juneteenth as a state holiday.
Posted: October 13, 2022
URCrP016. Discovery. AMEND. Rule 16 is amended to incorporate an updated reference to Rule 26(b)(6) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, which was modified and became effective May 4th, 2022.
Posted: July 20, 2022
URCrP012.5. Notice of transfer Domestic Violence case from Justice Court to District Court. (NEW). On July 1, 2022, H.B. 196 went into effect, modifying Section 78A-7-106 of the Utah Code. The statute now includes a provision whereby a domestic violence case set for trial in a justice court may be transferred to a district court after the prosecuting attorney or defendant files a notice of transfer. Rule 12.5 proposes procedure justice courts and district courts should follow to effectuate this transfer.
Pursuant to U.C.J.A. Rule 11-105, the Utah Supreme Court has approved new Rule 12.5 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure for expedited adoption and a 45-day comment period.
Posted: July 14, 2022
URCrP042. Expungement. (NEW). Pursuant to U.C.J.A. Rule 11-105, the Utah Supreme Court has approved Rule 42 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure for expedited adoption and another round of public comment. This version of the Rule includes technical and substantive corrections to match procedures for automatic expungement provided by Utah Code Ann. 77-40a-201. The Rule further contemplates protocol that the Administrative Office of the Courts will follow to create lists of expungement-eligible cases and identify and remove from those lists cases that do not meet eligibility criteria or are objected to by victims or prosecutors.
Posted: December 8, 2021
URCrP011. Pleas. Amend. The adopted changes to URCrP 11 ensure that both parties of a negotiated plea agreement, approved by the court pursuant to (i)(2), are provided a genuine opportunity to either affirm or withdraw from the agreement if any court generated changes at the time of plea do not conform with the terms the Court had previously approved. Also included are grammatical changes, related to the use of the word “shall,” to comply with the court’s language modernization policy.
Posted: June 24, 2021
URCrP016. Discovery. Amended. The amendments incorporate changes suggested by the public comments to require disclosure of police officer’s notes only if they have not been incorporated into a police report, allowing defendants to waive the mandatory disclosures, and clarifying the notice procedure when a prosecutor decides a required disclosure is either not lawful or would endanger any person or an ongoing investigation.
Posted: January 28, 2021
Rules of Civil Procedure
URCP083. AMEND. The proposed amendments would bring represented parties into the rule’s purview. They would also permit any court to rely on another court’s vexatious litigant findings and order their own restrictions. Paragraph (e)(1) was updated to fix a grammatical error.
Rules Governing Constitutional Challenges
The following amendments to Civil Rule 24,Criminal Rule 12, and Appellate Rule 25A are intended to better coordinate the provisions addressing constitutional challenges. The amendments do the following:
URCP024 – Redline and URCP024 – Clean
Rules of Professional Conduct
RPC05.04. Professional Independence of a Lawyer. AMEND. Adds a clarifying comment to the rule.
Supreme Court Order for Civil Rules 83 and 24
Supreme Court Order for Criminal Rule 12
Supreme Court Order for Appellate Rule 25A
Supreme Court Order for Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 5.4