Peace talks are scheduled to begin this week in an effort to settle the massive legal war over the Fundamentalist LDS Church's United Effort Plan Trust.

"I think everyone is hopeful that a resolution will come out of the process," said Stephen Clark, an attorney representing several members of the Utah-based polygamous sect.

The Utah Attorney General's Office is hosting all sides in the two-day settlement conference, which begins Wednesday and is being mediated by former federal judge Paul Cassell. The talks are the culmination of a "stand down" put in place by a judge last year to a series of lawsuits by the FLDS challenging the reforms to the UEP Trust, which controls homes, businesses and property in Utah, Arizona and in Canada.

Based on the early Mormon concept of a "united order," people share property, goods and profits within the trust. They're supposed to get them back according to their wants and needs. In 2005, the state of Utah took control of the UEP Trust amid allegations that FLDS leader Warren Jeffs had been siphoning money from the "united effort" and the trustees defaulted on a series of lawsuits filed by ex-members.

The judge appointed Bruce Wisan to act as special fiduciary and the trust was ultimately reformed, doing away with the communal property nature of the trust in favor of private property ownership. After years of relative silence, FLDS members fought back with a series of lawsuits challenging the trust reforms. Among their claims, the reformed trust violated their right to freely practice their religion by prohibiting them from consecrating their property to the church. When the fiduciary sought to sell farmland in Colorado City to pay off debts, members sued again arguing the land was prophesied to be a temple site.

"How do you identify and meet the just wants and needs of the people in the area so they can get on with their lives and move forward?" Clark said.

Several paradigms will be discussed, Clark said, ranging from subdividing all of the property to creating a claims process for those who seek individual title to their homes to get them.

"Everything I've seen suggests that everyone who's coming to the table will do so in a sincere effort to resolve the issues out of court," he said Monday.

Another issue is what to do about Wisan. Ultimately, he will no longer be overseeing the trust and its $110 million in assets.

"The goal is to recognize that the trust has been reformed and get it in a setting where you don't need a fiduciary," said Jeffrey L. Shields, an attorney for Wisan.

The talks come as simmering tensions in the fundamentalist border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., have nearly reached a boiling point again — with the potential for another all-out legal fight. Most recently, an FLDS member was arrested for trespassing and Wisan was charged in Arizona with criminal solicitation, accusing him of encouraging an employee to trespass in homes sitting on the communal property trust's land.

Any settlement must still be approved by 3rd District Court Judge Denise Lindberg, who oversees the trust.

"This is our best effort to try and do what we originally set out to do which was to protect the people so they can keep their homes and businesses," said Paul Murphy, a spokesman for Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. "If an agreement isn't reached, everyone could potentially lose everything through prolonged legal battles."

E-MAIL: bwinslow@desnews.com