Judge signs FLDS trust reform

The signs placed in front of some of the homes in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., say it all: "UEP Property."

The Fundamentalist LDS Church's United Effort Plan Trust controls homes, businesses and land in these towns and other FLDS enclaves. Based on the early-Mormon concept of a "united order," people put everything into a common pot and get things back according to wants and needs.

Now, the foundations of the UEP Trust are shifting.

A judge in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court signed an order late Wednesday reforming the $110 million dollar trust.

"That's wonderful," ex-FLDS member Richard Holm said when told of the reformation by the Deseret Morning News. His home is on UEP land in Colorado City.

"It's a total change," he said Thursday. "When it was created, the intent of the settlers was people were secure in their homes and not subject to the edicts of a madman."

In 2005, Judge Denise Lindberg took control of the UEP Trust amid allegations that FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs and other top FLDS Church leaders were fleecing it. She appointed certified public accountant Bruce Wisan to act as the court-appointed special fiduciary, managing the trust.

Jeffs is currently in jail facing charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of forcing a teenage girl into a child-bride marriage with an older man.

Jeffs has also been accused of kicking people off of UEP land while purging members from his church, estimated to have more than 10,000 followers.

The Utah Attorney General's Office, which took the trust to a judge, was pleased by the reformation.

"I think it is certainly a tremendous and invaluable benefit to those living on trust property who want stability," assistant Utah Attorney General Tim Bodily said. "That is a concept that is obviously very important to those who may have lost their homes and may have been removed from trust property."

Lawyers said religion has been "carved out" and people within the polygamous border towns of Hildale and Colorado City will eventually have the chance to own property for the first time in the UEP's history.