A method for user equipment (UE) service handover from the serving cell to a target cell includes information regarding a handover timer and an associated handover execution condition. For scheduled handover to be performed upon expiration of the handover timer, the associated handover execution condition comprises one or more abort conditions for aborting the scheduled handover. For two-stage triggered handover to be performed upon receipt of a subsequent triggering message, the handover timer is a handover validity timer and the associated handover execution condition comprises receipt of the handover triggering message prior to expiration of the handover validity timer.