What to gather for a small estate in Vermont
Pick a procedure and check off what you already have. Download or print the list to take with you.
Small estate proceeding (14 V.S.A. 1901-1903; V.R.P.P. 80.3)
A short probate case. You file a petition with an inventory, a debts affidavit and a bond without surety. If no one objects within 14 days, the court approves the fiduciary and any will without a hearing.
- Limit
Up to $45,000
The estate's fair market value cannot be more than $45,000, and it must be all personal property, except that it may include a timeshare. If it later turns out the estate was worth more, the fiduciary must ask the court to switch to a regular estate.
- What counts
The fair market value of the person's estate, which must consist entirely of personal property (a timeshare is allowed).
- Waiting period
The law sets no waiting period after the death. An interested person who did not consent in writing gets notice and has 14 days to object.
- Who can use it
The person asking to be appointed fiduciary (executor or administrator) files the petition. Interested persons who do not consent in writing must be notified.
- Court or where to file
Probate Division of the Vermont Superior Court (in the county where the person lived).
- Notary
The debts affidavit is sworn; the fiduciary's final statement of payments is sworn.
- Papers to attach
- Petition to Open Small Estate
- List of interested persons
- Original death certificate
- Inventory of the estate
- Affidavit of Paid & Outstanding Funeral Expenses and Debts for Small Estate
- Small Estate Administration Bond without surety, equal to the estate's value
- The will, if any
- Filing fee or a request to waive it
- Steps
- Fill in the petition, inventory, debts affidavit and bond and file them with the Probate Division with the death certificate, will and fee.
- Interested persons who did not consent get notice and 14 days to object; if none object, the court approves the fiduciary without a hearing.
- The court issues letters of administration, good for one year.
- Within 60 days after the letters, confirm or correct the inventory.
- Pay the funeral costs, debts and the person's final-year income taxes, then distribute the rest under the will or the inheritance law.
- File a Report of Fiduciary of Small Estate and receipts; the court may discharge the fiduciary without a full accounting.
- Fee
The filing fee depends on the estate's value: $50 for an estate of $10,000 or less, $110 for $10,001 to $50,000.
- If you can't pay
You can ask the court to waive the filing fee with the Application to Waive Filing Fees and Service Costs.
- Debts and responsibility
After discharge, distributed property stays subject to claims proven later. Each person who received property must contribute proportionally toward such claims, up to the amount they received. The fiduciary is not liable to distributees for losses when they must repay creditors.
Law: 14 V.S.A. 1901, 1902, 1903; V.R.P.P. 80.3; V.R.P.P. 32 V.S.A. 1434(a)
Source: Official page
Death certificates in Vermont
Copies can be obtained from the state office or any city or town using the state's vital records system; a copy of valid ID and an application are required. A certified copy from the state office costs $10. Recorded fee line: (802) 863-7275.
- Where to get it
- Vermont Department of Health, Vital Records Section, or any city or town clerk using the state's vital records system
- Official page
- Official page
Car or vehicle title after a death in Vermont
If the title shows survivorship (spouses as tenants by the entirety, or joint tenants), the survivor needs a copy of the death certificate. If the title names a transfer-on-death (TOD) beneficiary, the beneficiary needs the death certificate and the title. If the vehicle was titled to the person alone and there is no probate, the DMV needs the death certificate, the title properly assigned, and a letter from an officer of the court (an attorney or court official such as a court clerk or probate judge) stating that the person died without a will or with an unprobated will, that the estate need not be probated, and who has the right to the vehicle. A surviving spouse can transfer up to two vehicles with no fees if there is no will or the will does not address vehicles, using the Registration, Tax and Title Application and the surviving spouse statement.
Law: 23 V.S.A. 2023, 3816; DMV forms VT-021, VT-007
- Agency
- Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
- Fee
No fees for a surviving spouse for up to two vehicles under 23 V.S.A. 2023; otherwise title, registration and purchase and use tax may apply.
- Transfer-on-death title
A single owner can name a transfer-on-death transferee on the title with form VT-007. At the owner's death the transferee becomes the owner, subject to any lien; registration, tax and title fees apply to the transfer.
Source: Official page
Surviving spouse in Vermont
With no will, a surviving spouse inherits everything if all the person's descendants are also the spouse's (or there are none), and half if some descendants are not the spouse's. A surviving spouse can transfer up to two vehicles at the DMV with no fees, and the court says an estate may not be needed if a vehicle is the only asset and there is a spouse.
Related pages
Free help in Vermont
A court self-help center or a legal aid office can check whether the estate qualifies, free of charge or at low cost.