Matter of Estate of West

HOWE, Justice.

Children listed as beneficiaries of their parents’ inter vivos trust challenge the power of their father to convey the marital home, the sole trust asset, to himself and his second wife in joint tenancy following the death of the children’s mother. The trial court granted judgment on the pleadings in favor of the second wife. The court of appeals reversed, West v. West (In re Estate of West), 915 P.2d 504 (Utah Ct.App.1996), and we granted certiorari. 925 P.2d 963 (Utah 1996).

FACTS

In 1986, Herschel West, Sr., and his wife Hazel West executed a “Declaration of Trust” (the West…