Settling an estate in Vermont
An executor in Vermont has to work through the Probate Division (Superior Court) and a long list of tasks that have nothing to do with the court. This page sets out what Vermont law actually requires at each step, with the section it comes from and the date we last read it.
- Probate court
- Probate Division (Superior Court)
- Small-estate shortcut
- Estates of $45,000 or less may qualify for a simplified small-estate procedure (personal property only — it will not transfer real estate).
- Creditor claim period
- 4 months
- Typical timeline
- 6–18 months
- State death tax
- a state estate tax
Immediate
Obtain certified death certificates
Vermont names the estate applicant in the statute, which is unusual and genuinely useful. Under 18 V.S.A. § 5016(b)(2) a certified copy of a death certificate goes to the registrant’s spouse, child, grandchild, parent, sibling, grandparent or guardian — and expressly to a person petitioning to open a decedent’s estate, to a court-appointed executor or administrator, or to the legal representative of any of them. So you qualify while you are still applying, not only once you have been appointed. For death certificates the section adds the individual with authority for final disposition and any funeral home or crematorium acting on their behalf, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the deceased’s insurance carrier where it provides benefits to survivors. Anyone else needs a court order finding that a noncertified copy will not serve. Certificates registered before 1909 are issued by a town clerk instead. Two practical notes. The funeral director usually orders the first batch as part of their service, so ask them how many they have already requested before you order more — families routinely pay twice. And order more than you think: banks, insurers and transfer agents often keep the copy you give them rather than returning it. Confirm the current fee on the state’s own page at the moment you order, because fees change without notice.
18 V.S.A. § 5016·last read 2026-08-25
Locate the will (or confirm there is none)
Vermont’s rule is a single sentence, and knowing its limits matters as much as knowing it. Under 14 V.S.A. § 103 a person having custody of a will must, within 30 days of learning of the testator’s death, deliver it to the Probate Division of the Superior Court where venue lies, or to the executor named in the will. The section was last amended in 2017. Two things follow. Delivering to the named executor discharges the custodian, so a will can pass to a family member rather than to the court and still satisfy the statute. That is where a will most often goes quiet, and why asking the court whether anything has been filed can come back empty even though the statute was obeyed. And § 103 itself states no penalty. We have read the section, not the rest of the chapter, so treat that as the section being silent rather than as proof Vermont has no remedy; ask the Probate Division what it will do before assuming there is nothing behind the duty. The clock runs from their knowledge of the death. Put your request in writing and keep a dated copy.
14 V.S.A. § 103·last read 2026-08-25
Short-term
Claim the family allowances you are entitled to
Vermont moved its allowances rather than abolishing them, which matters because the old chapter still turns up in searches. Act 55 of 2009 repealed 14 V.S.A. §§ 401 to 408 and, in the same act, added what is now in chapter 42. Under § 316 the Probate Division may make a reasonable allowance for the necessary expenses of support and maintenance of the surviving spouse and minor children, out of the personal estate or the income of real or personal estate, from the date of death until the estate is settled. It runs no longer than until their shares are assigned to them, or in an insolvent estate no more than eight months after administration is granted, and the court has a discretion to give it priority over the debts of the estate. Section 317 adds a separate allowance for the support of the children until they turn eighteen, and that one is made before any distribution among creditors, heirs or beneficiaries: the court may order the executor to retain enough of the estate for it, unless the will already provides for their support. Section 311 confirms the ordering, since the surviving spouse’s intestate share is what remains after debts, funeral charges, these allowances and the expenses of administration.
14 V.S.A. §§ 311, 316, 317·last read 2026-08-21
Notify beneficiaries and keep them informed
In Vermont the court does this, not you — which is a relief, but it means checking rather than assuming. Under 14 V.S.A. § 111 the court shall, within thirty days after the allowance of a will, mail written notice of the allowance, postage paid, to each beneficiary, devisee or legatee named in the will, and to any other person who contested the allowance. So the duty sits with the Probate Division rather than with the executor, and the trigger is the allowance of the will rather than your appointment. Two practical consequences. If a beneficiary tells you they never heard anything, the question is what the court sent and when, so ask the Division to confirm. And the section reaches only people named in the will, so an intestate heir is outside it. Getting this wrong rarely costs money directly — it stalls the case. An estate that cannot show notice was properly given can be held open, and the appointment itself can be reopened, so keep proof of what you sent, to whom, and on what date.
14 V.S.A. § 111·last read 2026-08-25
Determine if probate is required
Vermont’s route is not a form you hand to a bank, and expecting one is the commonest mistake here. Under 14 V.S.A. § 1901 you open a probate estate: a petition, a list of interested persons, the filing fee, an original death certificate, an inventory, an affidavit of funeral expenses and known debts, a bond, and the will if there is one. It is a court proceeding, only a shorter one. Two conditions. The estate must consist entirely of personal property — real estate closes this route, with one narrow exception: a time-share estate under 32 V.S.A. § 3619(a) is expressly allowed. And the $45,000 is a gross fair-market-value cap, not net of debts, so debts do not bring an estate under the line. If it later turns out the estate exceeded $45,000, the fiduciary must convert it to full administration (§ 1901(c)).
14 V.S.A. §§ 1901-1902·last read 2026-08-18
Legal Process
File a petition with the probate court
Vermont has a route for the estate with nothing in it, and it saves opening a probate at all. Under 14 V.S.A. § 104(a) a person named executor in a will who has knowledge of it shall file a death certificate and a petition to open the estate in the Probate Division of the Superior Court where venue lies, with reasonable promptness. Subsection (b) is the part worth knowing. A petition to open an estate need not be filed where no assets require probate administration. The named executor may instead file the original death certificate and the will, without a petition, by notifying the court that no assets appear to require probate administration. So where everything passed by survivorship, by beneficiary designation or through a trust, the will still reaches the court but no estate is opened. New Hampshire has the same idea at RSA 552:3. One practical point: the word your state uses for this office is not decoration — asking for the wrong one wastes a trip and a phone call. And where a registrar or clerk can grant it, no judge is involved and no hearing is set, so nothing in the system will prompt you: the case moves only when you file.
14 V.S.A. § 104·last read 2026-08-25
Inventory all assets and debts
Vermont gives sixty days and, like New Hampshire, leaves the everyday things out. Under 14 V.S.A. § 1051 an executor or administrator who is not a special administrator, and not a successor to someone who already discharged the duty, must within sixty days after appointment prepare an inventory of property owned at death. Each item is listed in reasonable detail with its fair market value as at the date of death and the type and amount of any lien or encumbrance. The original is filed with the Probate Division of the Superior Court, copies are served as the Rules of Probate Procedure require, and the court may extend the time for good cause. Section 1054 is the relief. The wearing apparel of the deceased or of any other member of the household, and provisions and other articles to be consumed or used in the subsistence of the household, are not assets of the estate. That holds unless the court finds on motion that an item has intrinsic value beyond its value for wear or subsistence. Two things that apply everywhere. Values are as of the date of death, not today — a house that has risen since is still listed at what it was worth then. And the inventory is the document everything else is measured against: fees, bond, and every later distribution. It is also what beneficiaries most often challenge, so take the time to get it right rather than filing a rough figure you intend to fix later.
14 V.S.A. §§ 1051, 1054·last read 2026-08-25
Publish notice to creditors
Vermont’s fallback is a year, so failing to publish costs eight extra months of exposure. Under 14 V.S.A. § 1203(a) claims arising before the death are barred against the estate, the executor or administrator, and the heirs and devisees, unless presented within four months after the date of first publication of notice to creditors where notice is given in compliance with the Rules of Probate Procedure. Where notice has not been published, the period is one year after the death. Three categories sit outside the bar altogether: claims filed by the State on behalf of Vermont Medicaid, claims for the possession of or title to real estate, and claims for injury to the person or damage to property suffered by the act or default of the deceased. The Medicaid carve-out is the one families are most often surprised by. Two things to hold on to. Publication is what starts the clock in most states, so an estate where nobody published can stay exposed to claims far longer than the family expects. And a known creditor usually has to be told directly — publication alone does not bind someone whose name and address you could reasonably have found.
14 V.S.A. § 1203·last read 2026-08-25
Administration
Identify and close digital accounts
Vermont asks for the certificate of appointment of a fiduciary and names no alternative to it. Chapter 125 of Title 14 is Vermont’s enactment of the revised uniform act, and § 3557 governs the content of a deceased person’s electronic communications. Content is disclosed only where the person consented or a court directs it, and the custodian must be given a written request, a certified copy of the death certificate, and a certified copy of the certificate of appointment of a fiduciary. Unlike Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington, the section names no small-estate affidavit — so a Vermont family that never opened an estate is looking at the provider’s online tool or a court order rather than a shortcut. Unless the online tool was used you must also produce the will, trust or power of attorney evidencing consent. The rule to hold on to everywhere: without consent you generally get only the catalogue — who was contacted, when, and at what address — not what was actually said. “The executor can get into the accounts” is not what these laws do. And if you are advising someone still living, the provider’s own online tool is where this should be set, because it beats the will.
14 V.S.A. § 3557·last read 2026-08-25
Financial Settlement
Pay valid debts and expenses
Vermont has only four classes, and it caps the funeral. Under 14 V.S.A. § 1205(a), if the applicable assets are insufficient to pay all claims in full, the executor or administrator pays in this order. First, the costs and expenses of administration. Second, reasonable funeral, burial and headstone expenses and perpetual care, not to exceed $3,800 exclusive of governmental payments, together with the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness. Third, wages due employees earned within three months before the death, not to exceed $300 to each claimant. Fourth, all other claims, including the balance of wages due but unpaid under the third class. The $3,800 cap is the one to plan around: a funeral costs several times that, and only $3,800 of it holds second place — the rest falls to the last class with the credit cards. Subsection (b) adds that no claim within a class is preferred over another, a claim due and payable does not outrank claims not due, and claims within a class are prorated where the assets fall short. Paying a lower-ranked debt before a higher-ranked one can leave you personally liable for the difference. So where the estate may not cover everything, stop before paying anything beyond the funeral and administration costs, and take advice.
14 V.S.A. § 1205·last read 2026-08-27
File required tax returns
Vermont taxes only the part of the estate above $5,000,000, and the way it counts is worth reading carefully. For deaths in 2021 or later the tax is assessed on the value of the gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts made within two years of death, to the extent that total exceeds $5 million — so substantial gifts in the last two years are pulled back in. Above the threshold the rate is a flat 16% of the excess (32 V.S.A. § 7442a), and there is no cliff — the first $5 million is not taxed at all. Real or tangible property located outside Vermont is excluded, and for a person who was not a Vermont resident intangible property is excluded too. Separately, Vermont expects an income tax return covering the part of the tax year the person was alive and receiving income, which is a different filing from the estate tax and is easy to overlook. The $5,000,000 does not move either — 32 V.S.A. § 7442a states it as a flat figure with no indexation, so it is the same number for a death this year as for one in 2021. All values are as finally determined for federal estate tax purposes, and the tax is then multiplied by a Vermont-situs fraction, so an estate with property in several states pays Vermont only on its Vermont share. None of that removes the federal returns: the deceased’s final income tax return, and Form 1041 for income the estate itself earns during administration — and this state wants its own fiduciary return alongside the 1041.
32 V.S.A. § 7442a·last read 2026-09-09
Distribution
Distribute assets to heirs
Vermont is unusually simple, and unusually generous to the surviving spouse. Under 14 V.S.A. § 311 the spouse receives the entire intestate estate if no descendant of the deceased survives, or if all the deceased’s surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse. The estate splits only where a descendant of the deceased is not also the spouse’s and is not excluded by the will from inheriting — and then the spouse takes one half. There are no dollar tiers at all, and a surviving parent does not reduce the spouse’s share the way it does in most states. The section is explicit that the share is worked out after the debts, funeral charges, the allowances to the spouse and children under §§ 316 and 317, and the expenses of administration. Section 314 then distributes the balance to everyone else. Two Vermont extras sit alongside: the spouse may ask the court for the household furnishings under § 312, and title to a vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle passes to the spouse automatically under § 313. One disqualification to check, and one document that can override everything above. Under 14 V.S.A. § 322, notwithstanding §§ 311 to 314, where an individual intentionally and unlawfully kills the deceased, the property they would have taken passes instead to the remaining heirs or beneficiaries — and in any proceeding contesting their right to inherit, the record of conviction is admissible and conclusively establishes the killing. Section 323 separately allows a written waiver of spousal rights, so ask whether one exists before applying the shares. Beyond those, Vermont has no bar on a deserting spouse and none on an absent parent. These shares apply only where there is no valid will — a will overrides all of it. And do not distribute anything until the creditor period has run and the debts are settled: a representative who pays the family early can be personally liable for what is still owing. Vermont’s general adoption rule is severe and its stepparent rule is among the most generous, so read both. Under 15A V.S.A. § 1-105 a final decree terminates each former parent’s rights “including the right of inheritance and intestate succession from or through the adoptee”. It also terminates the adoptee’s own right to inherit through or from each former parent and that parent’s kindred. And it takes the adoptee out of the words “child”, “descendant”, “heir” and “issue” in any donative instrument, unless the document says otherwise or names them. Section 4-102(b) then reverses most of that where the adopter is a stepparent, in two directions. It does not affect the relationship between the adoptee and the parent who is the stepparent’s “spouse or deceased spouse”, so the case where that parent has since died is expressly covered. And it does not affect “the right of the adoptee or a descendant of the adoptee to inheritance or intestate succession through or from the adoptee’s former parent”, which keeps the OTHER birth parent’s side open for the child. Section 1-104 handles the adoptive side: mutual inheritance with the adoptive parent and that parent’s kindred, and the adoptee counts as child, heir or issue in a donative instrument unless it expressly states a contrary intention.
14 V.S.A. §§ 311, 314, 322, 323; 15A V.S.A. §§ 1-104, 1-105, 4-102·last read 2026-09-09
Close Estate
File a final accounting and close the estate
Vermont starts the accounting clock at one year and keeps it running. Under 14 V.S.A. § 1055 an executor or administrator must render an account of their administration within one year of receiving letters testamentary or of administration, and annually after that, or otherwise as the Probate Division of the Superior Court orders, until the estate is wholly settled. So an estate that drags on generates a filing every year rather than one reckoning at the end. The section also allows the fiduciary to be examined on oath upon any matter relating to the account, which is the mechanism a beneficiary who suspects something will reach for. Closing is what ends your exposure, so do not simply stop when the money runs out — an estate left open leaves the representative personally on the hook. And filing a closing statement is not the same as being discharged. In several states the appointment only terminates some months later, if nobody objects. Keep the file, the receipts and the proof of what you sent until then.
14 V.S.A. § 1055·last read 2026-08-25
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EstateMate is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Every note above cites the section it came from and the date it was last read, so you can check it yourself. Statutes change, and the right answer can turn on facts specific to your family — when something looks close to the line, talk to a Vermont probate attorney.