Utah Courts – Utah Court Rules – Published for Comment

Posted: March 17, 2025

Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closes May 1, 2025

URCrP007. Initial proceedings for class A misdemeanors and felonies. Amend.

URCrP007A. Procedures for arraignment on class B or C misdemeanors, or infractions. Amend.

Rules 7 & 7A are amended to require the collection of certain demographic information for a person subject to a pretrial protective order at the time of case initiation or when a party makes a request for a pretrial protective order. The demographic information collected is necessary to establish the pretrial protective order on both state and federal databases and maintain the record for enforcement purposes.

Posted: March 14, 2025

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes April 28, 2025

CJA04-206. Exhibits (AMEND)
The proposed amendments clarify that exhibits in the court’s custody post-disposition will be transferred to the offering party or appropriate law enforcement agency.

Posted: March 14, 2025

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes April 28, 2025

CJA04-403. Electronic signature and signature stamp use (AMEND)
The proposed amendments grant district, juvenile, and justice courts the discretion to authorize clerks to use a judge’s or commissioner’s electronic signature or signature stamp on additional document types without judicial review by issuing a standing order signed by a presiding judge.

CJA04-111. Priority of post-conviction petitions in capital cases (AMEND)
The proposed amendments remove the requirement that the Administrative Office of the Courts prepare a monthly report on pending post-conviction petitions in capital cases because those reports are no longer needed.

Posted: March 11, 2025

Rules of Professional Conduct – Comment Period Closes April 25, 2025

Rule 3.3. Candor toward the tribunal. AMEND. The amendments align the rule and intent with the model rule as was originally done. Utah restructured this rule by renumbering paragraphs from the model rule. In doing so, the model language (now in subsection (d)) included that “the duties stated in paragraphs (a) and (b)” required disclosure but omitted the new paragraph (c). The language of Utah paragraph (c) is found in model rule paragraph (b). The comments were also amended to reflect correct citations. The Court has also removed the language “or is reckless with respect to its truth” from Comment 1. The Court approves this rule as final with an effective date of May 1, 2025, while simultaneously publishing it for public comment pursuant to CJA Rule 11-105.

Posted: March 11, 2025

Utah Rules of Civil Procedure – Comment Period Closes April 25, 2025

URCP026.4. Provisions governing disclosure and discovery in contested proceedings under titles 75, 75A, or 75B of the Utah Code. AMEND. This rule was previously amended to reflect the recodification of the probate code to reference additional Utah Code titles, as well as, to conform to the style guide for the rules. These additional amendments clarify the information that needs to be provided regarding any less restrictive alternatives to guardianship or conservatorship.

URCP101. Motion practice before court commissioners. AMEND. Proposed amendments to clarify scope, content, oral motions, service on unrepresented parties, exhibits and admissible evidence, page limits, hearings and orders.

Posted: March 6, 2025

Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure – Comment Period Closes April 20, 2025

URAP035. Petition for rehearing. The Committee proposes amending Rule 35 to update the reference to Rule 27 which was amended May 1, 2024.

URAP044. Transfer of improperly pursued appeals. The Committee proposes amending Rule 44 to: 1) clarify what happens when an appeal is improperly filed with the appellate court and what the filing date of the appeal will be; and 2) clarify that a transfer of an appeal under this rule is not an adjudication that jurisdiction is proper.

Posted: February 25, 2025

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes April 11, 2025

CJA01-205.Standing and ad hoc committees. AMEND.

The proposed amendments:
(1) add community representatives who are knowledgable about the needs of self-represented
litigants to the Court Facility Planning Committee, Committee on Children and Family
Law, Committee on Resources for Self-represented Parties, Language Access Committee,
Committee on Court Forms, and Committee on Fairness and Accountability;
(2) require the chair of each standing committee to conduct a committee performance
assessment every three years and report the results to the Management Committee; and
(3) make non-substantive formatting changes.

CJA03-306.04.Interpreter appointment, payment, and fines. AMEND.

The proposed amendments:
(1) require parties to provide a written transcript of recorded evidence involving a spoken
language other than English;
(2) with limited exceptions, prohibit parties from asking court interpreters to provide on-the-
spot translations of written documents or on-the-spot interpretation of recorded evidence;
(3) direct interpreters to review audio and video files recorded in English prior to a court
proceeding;
(4) require court interpreters to inform the court if they are unable to provide on-the-spot
interpretation or translations; and
(5) make non-substantive formatting changes.

Posted: February 7, 2025

Proposed Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Rule Changes – Comment Period Closes March 24, 2025

USB11-602. Definitions. Amend. Delete the term “Comity Certificate;” in Rule 11-602 and add the definitions of “Multi-State Reciprocity” and “Carry-Forward Hours”.

USB11-604. Active status lawyers MCLE, NLTP, admission on motion, multi-state compliance reciprocity, house counsel and UBE requirements; MCLE requirements for Paralegal Practitioners. Amend. Requesting changes to the MCLE rules permitting lawyers to carry CLE hours forward from one year to the next; permitting reciprocal credit for lawyers with primary offices out of state

USB11-611.Board Accreditation of CLE. Amend. Make technical revisions to Rule 11-611 to re-organize the steps required to receive approval for CLE which is not offered to all lawyers and licensed paralegal practitioners.

USB11-612. Presumptively approved CLE providers; presumptive CLE Accreditation. Amend. Change the capitalized word “Accreditation” to “accreditation” in Rule 11-612 and add the word “Rule” where it was inadvertently left out.

USB11-617. Miscellaneous fees and expenses. Amend. Add a filing fee for a lawyer to request “Multi-State Reciprocity” in Rule 11-617.

USB11-619. CLE Credit for Pro Bono Legal Services. Amend. Remove the expiration date from Rule 11-619 permanently allowing CLE credit for qualified pro bono services.

Posted: February 6, 2025

Rules of Evidence – Comment Period Closes March 23, 2025

URE0613. Witness’s Prior Statement. Amend. The proposed amendments follow recent changes to Federal Rule of Evidence 613 concerning the timing of admission of extrinsic evidence of a witness’s prior inconsistent statement. The amendments would generally require that, prior to such evidence being admitted, the witness be given an opportunity to explain or deny the prior statement.

Posted: January 28, 2025

Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 14, 2025

URAP040A. Vexatious Litigants. The committee proposes the creation of Rule 40A to create a process for the appellate courts to find a party to be a “vexatious litigant.”

URAP042.Transfer of case from Supreme Court to Court of Appeals. The committee proposes amending Rule 42 to: 1) add to the rule the Court’s currently internal process for retention of appeals in the Supreme Court; and 2) clean-up language for clarity and consistency.