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.
The UEP's reformation plan would ultimately privatize property in FLDS enclaves. It would also create a number of "spendthrift" trusts that place the UEP's assets in the control of a trustee, until the recipients are judged to be able to control the money or property themselves.
"We have a society of people who are historically co-dependent," ex-FLDS member Carolyn Jessop said Thursday. She is on the reformed UEP's board of advisers. "Every circumstance will have to be evaluated by the board."
Wisan said the UEP Trust will not change overnight but transition slowly. Over the course of months or years, the fiduciary's role will change, and the board of advisers for the UEP will eventually become its board of trustees.
"At this point in time, everything will stay status quo," Wisan said. "Nothing changes from yesterday to today."
Wisan said there may be more changes coming with the reformed trust. A plan is being considered for people who live on UEP property to buy the land their homes sit on. A survey crew has been subdividing the community. Plats were recently presented to the Hildale City Council, which took the idea under advisement.
There remains concern that FLDS faithful will continue to resist any change. Jeffs has issued an edict to his followers, which could hurt reform efforts.
"Do not sign your name to any document for property that has already been consecrated to God," Jeffs is reported to have said of the UEP reform plans.
Wisan is investigating a vandalism at a Colorado City park where a harvest festival was recently held. A children's train was damaged. The park was abandoned by the FLDS.
"I think that there was some FLDS that were unhappy the apostates were having a good time," he said.
On the other hand, an FLDS man recently signed an occupancy agreement giving Wisan some hope that things may be changing.
"I'm hopeful that the influence that Warren has on the community will wane," he told the Deseret Morning News. "I believe that the reform trust document will benefit a lot of people in the long run."
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com