Utah asset protection: no tenancy by the entireties, so the home rests on a homestead that only doubles if both spouses are on title

Every state this site has covered so far leaned on tenancy by the entireties to protect a married couple’s home from one spouse’s creditor. Utah does not have it. Utah does not recognize tenancy by the entireties at all, so the automatic marital shield that carries the home in Indiana, Missouri, or Maryland simply is not available here. What Utah offers instead is a homestead exemption that actually works, $52,400 for an individual and $104,700 for a married couple, claimable against an ordinary judgment and not just in bankruptcy. The catch is in that couple’s number: it only exists if both spouses are on the title, because there is no entireties form to produce it automatically.

That absence changes how a Utah home is protected, and it is the thing to understand first. The rest of the picture is a standard uniform-act charging order that is exclusive in name but allows foreclosure, and an alter-ego veil test applied cautiously. Take the marital shield first, because it is where Utah departs from every state before it.

No entireties, so the homestead does the work

Start with what protects the home, because the usual answer is gone.

Utah does not recognize tenancy by the entireties, so a married couple cannot use it to place the home beyond a creditor of one spouse.

In most states that this site has covered, a married couple holds the home as tenants by the entireties, and a creditor of only one spouse cannot reach it. Utah is not one of those states. It recognizes joint tenancy and tenancy in common, but not the entireties, so the marital immunity that flows automatically from entireties ownership does not exist. A creditor of one spouse in Utah can reach that spouse’s interest in jointly held property, subject to the exemptions below, in a way an entireties state would block outright. For a married Utah homeowner, that means the plan cannot assume the home is shielded by how it is titled between spouses; the protection has to come from the homestead exemption instead.

The homestead, unlike Maryland’s, is a real and usable exemption.

Utah’s homestead protects $52,400 of equity per owner and $104,700 for a married couple, and it applies against an ordinary judgment, not only in bankruptcy.

Under Utah Code 78B-5-503, as adjusted by the State Auditor, an individual may exempt $52,400 of equity in a primary residence, and a married couple who both own the home may exempt $104,700, with the figures indexed annually. The exemption applies against a judicial lien, levy, execution, or forced sale, so it works outside bankruptcy, which is a meaningful step up from a state like Maryland whose homestead only functions in a bankruptcy filing. But the doubled couple’s figure is not automatic the way an entireties immunity would be. It exists because each spouse claims an individual exemption, which requires each spouse to be an owner. The structuring consequence is direct.

Because the couple’s figure comes from two individual exemptions, both spouses must hold title, so putting the home in one spouse’s name or in a single-member LLC forfeits half the protection.

If only one spouse is on the deed, the household gets one exemption, $52,400, not two. If the home is titled into a single-member LLC or held solely by the higher-risk spouse, the same halving applies, and the LLC does not add homestead protection because the exemption runs to the individual owner of a residence, not to an entity. So the move that protects a Utah couple’s home is the plain one that an entireties state would make unnecessary: both spouses on title, each claiming the homestead, for the full $104,700. The entireties page covers the shield Utah lacks, and the practical Utah answer is joint ownership plus the homestead, deliberately arranged.

The charging order that is exclusive and foreclosable

On the LLC interest itself, Utah follows the uniform act, with the same gap between label and effect that several states share.

Utah calls the charging order the exclusive remedy, but the same statute allows foreclosure of the interest, and a single-member LLC is exposed to it.

Under Utah Code 48-3a-503, a charging order is a lien on the member’s transferable interest and requires the LLC to pay the creditor only the distributions the member would have received. Subsection (7) calls it the exclusive remedy, but the section also permits the creditor to foreclose the charged interest, with a right to redeem before the sale. For a multi-member LLC the practical protection holds up reasonably well, because the buyer at foreclosure generally takes only the economic rights and is locked out of management, so the creditor gains a distribution stream, not control. For a single-member LLC it is different: a Utah case applying the state’s foreclosure law confirmed that a sole-owner LLC’s interest can be foreclosed, and with no other members to block it, the buyer can take over. The single-member LLC page covers that soft spot, and in Utah the multi-member structure is what preserves the charging order’s value.

The veil, applied cautiously

To reach the owner directly, a creditor must pierce the veil under Utah’s alter-ego test.

Utah pierces the veil only on a showing of unity of interest between the owner and the entity plus an inequitable result, and courts apply it reluctantly.

Under Norman v. Murray First Thrift & Loan Co. and Colman v. Colman, a creditor must prove two things: that there is such unity of interest and ownership that the separate personalities of the entity and the owner no longer exist, the formalities prong, and that observing the entity form would sanction a fraud, promote injustice, or produce an inequitable result, the fairness prong. Courts weigh a list of factors, including commingling, undercapitalization, and disregard of formalities, but they grant the remedy reluctantly and cautiously, and the same test applies to LLCs. That puts Utah in the middle: harder to pierce than a state where thin capital alone can do it, easier than Maryland, where nothing short of fraud suffices. The piercing the veil page covers the doctrine; the Utah lesson is the ordinary one, keep the entity genuinely separate, because the fairness prong is where a sloppy operator loses.

The bottom line

Utah does not recognize tenancy by the entireties, so a married couple cannot use it to shield the home from one spouse’s creditor.

The home is protected instead by the homestead, $52,400 per owner and $104,700 for a couple, which works outside bankruptcy but only reaches the full couple’s figure if both spouses hold title.

Titling the home in one spouse’s name or in a single-member LLC forfeits half the homestead, so joint ownership is the deliberate move Utah requires.

The charging order under 48-3a-503 is called the exclusive remedy but allows foreclosure, and a single-member Utah LLC is exposed, so a genuine multi-member structure preserves the protection.

The veil follows the alter-ego test of unity of interest plus an inequitable result, applied cautiously, so the plan is joint title, the homestead, a multi-member LLC, and a clean separation between owner and entity.

What this page does not cover

This page is about how creditors reach you in Utah. What Utah’s law lets your operating agreement do, and the fiduciary duties it will not let you waive, are on the governance page. Utah’s flat income tax, the absence of a transfer tax, and the series LLC are on the structure and cost page. The low formation fee and the $18 annual renewal are on the filing page.

Last verified August 2026.