Franklin Probate Division Guide

Vermont's small-estate route, and it is a REAL PROBATE PROCEEDING rather than a bank affidavit: 14 V.S.A. § 1901(a) opens an estate on a Petition to Open Small Estate with a list of interested persons, the filing fee, an original death certificate, an inventory, an affidavit of funeral expenses and debts, a bond without surety, and the will. § 1901(c) forces conversion to full administration if the estate turns out to exceed $45,000.00. SEPARATELY, Vermont Rule of Probate Procedure 80.3 carries an AFFIDAVIT PROCEDURE inside the small-estates rule, which the Supreme Court's promulgation order places at paragraph (g) and prices at a flat $50.00 under 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(30). Note a live discrepancy that is recorded rather than reconciled: § 1434(a)(30) and the Judiciary's fee page both cross-reference Rule "80.3(h)" while the current rule text places the affidavit procedure at "(g)". The order states no dollar threshold of its own, so the $45,000.00 figure above is the statutory small-estate ceiling of § 1901 and not a separately verified limit on the affidavit route; confirm the current limit with the Probate Division. Qualification here turns on the ASSET TYPE as much as the value: route off the personal-property-only test, never off a value band alone.

• The estate must be worth $45,000.00 or less and consist entirely of personal property (14 V.S.A. § 1901(a))
• File a Petition to Open Small Estate (https://www.vtcourts.gov/media/377) with the filing fee and an original death certificate
• File a List of Interested Persons for Estates, an Inventory Schedule and an Affidavit of Paid and Outstanding Funeral Expenses and Debts for Small Estate
• File a Small Estate Administration Bond, which is without surety unless the judge orders otherwise
• Close on a Report of Fiduciary of Small Estate and receipts

Qualifies:

$45,000.00 or less in fair market value AND the estate must consist entirely of personal property (a time-share estate under 32 V.S.A. § 3619(a) is allowed). A single parcel of Vermont real estate disqualifies the estate.

Filing fee:

$50

source

Typical duration:

4-9 months

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

NO FILING-FEE DISCOUNT. A small estate pays the ordinary band fee of 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a), which is $50.00 at or under $10,000.00 and $110.00 above it, because the $45,000.00 ceiling sits inside band (a)(2). The flat $50.00 in the fees block is the Rule 80.3 AFFIDAVIT-procedure fee of § 1434(a)(30), not a small-estate petition rate. The small-estate route saves process, not money.

The default Vermont route. An executor or administrator is appointed on a Petition to Open Decedent's Estate, gives bond, notifies interested persons, publishes notice to creditors, files an inventory and accounts, and closes on a final decree of distribution and a fiduciary's closing report. Vermont's statutory terms are EXECUTOR and ADMINISTRATOR throughout Title 14; Vermont is not a Uniform Probate Code state, so "personal representative" is not the Vermont term. The court is the Probate Division of the Superior Court, not a county probate court, which Vermont abolished effective 1 February 2011.

• Deliver the will to the Probate Division where venue lies, or to the named executor, within 30 days after learning of the death (14 V.S.A. § 103)
• File a death certificate and a Petition to Open Decedent's Estate with reasonable promptness (14 V.S.A. § 104)
• File a List of Interested Persons and an Estate Administration Bond
• Publish and file notice to creditors, which starts the four-month claim clock (14 V.S.A. §§ 1201, 1203)
• File an inventory and, where the estate runs more than a year, an annual account ($85.00, 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(12))
• Close on a Final Decree of Distribution and a Fiduciary's Closing Report and Discharge

Qualifies:

No dollar threshold. This is the default Vermont route for any estate that does not qualify for a small estate under 14 V.S.A. § 1901 or a waiver of administration under 14 V.S.A. § 1852.

Typical duration:

12-24 months

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

No single filing fee is stored for this route because the Vermont fee is banded by estate value across the eight steps of 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(1)-(8). See the fees block.

The court allows the will and issues letters, the executor or administrator files an inventory within 60 days of appointment, gives notice to creditors under the Rules of Probate Procedure, accounts within one year and annually after that, pays claims, and closes on a decree of distribution.

• Petition to open the decedent's estate, with an original death certificate and the will if there is one
• Bond under 14 V.S.A. § 906, filed before the court issues letters
• Inventory within 60 days of appointment (14 V.S.A. § 1051)
• Notice to creditors as required by the Rules of Probate Procedure (14 V.S.A. §§ 1201, 1203)
• Account within one year of letters and annually until the estate is wholly settled (14 V.S.A. § 1055)

Qualifies:

No threshold. This is the default route for any estate that does not qualify for a small estate under 14 V.S.A. chapter 81 or for waiver of administration under chapter 80.

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

A small estate under 14 V.S.A. chapter 81 is a REAL probate estate opened on a petition, not an out-of-court affidavit. It is simply a lighter version of administration: the petition, the list of interested persons, the filing fee, an original death certificate, an inventory, an affidavit of paid and outstanding funeral expenses and debts, a bond without surety in the amount of the fair market value of the estate, and the will if there is one. Letters run for one year and the court may extend that on motion for good cause.

• A petition to open a probate estate
• A list of interested persons
• The filing fee
• An original death certificate
• An inventory of the estate, including information or estimates available at the time of filing
• An affidavit of paid and outstanding funeral expenses and any other known or reasonably ascertainable debts
• A bond without surety in the amount of the fair market value of the estate
• The will, if any

Qualifies:

Fair market value of not more than $45,000.00 AND the estate consists entirely of personal property (a time-share estate as defined by 32 V.S.A. § 3619(a) is allowed).

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

In lieu of filing the petition required by V.R.P.P. 80.3(a)(1), an interested person may pay the small-estate entry fee and file an affidavit accompanied by a death certificate and the will, attesting to the matters set out in Rule 80.3(a)(5) and (6) and that notice has been given to, or consent obtained from, any other interested persons. If the court is satisfied with the facts attested to, it may order the asset or assets distributed under the will or the laws of descent and survivor's rights.

Filing fee:

$50

source

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

Vermont's other shortcut, and it is not a small-estate route: 14 V.S.A. § 1851 makes it available to estates OTHER THAN small estates, so the two are mutually exclusive by their own terms. Because it is not value-based, a large estate can use it and a modest one may not. The order waives the inventory, waives or discharges the bond and dispenses with further filings except the final affidavit of administration. Like the small-estate route it is closed to any estate holding Vermont real property, so a house takes an estate to full administration on both paths.

• The movant is the sole beneficiary under the will, or the sole heir if the decedent died intestate (14 V.S.A. § 1852)
• The movant is the sole fiduciary
• The decedent owned no real property in Vermont
• File a Motion to Waive Administration (https://www.vtcourts.gov/media/17258)
• Close on an Affidavit of Administration (https://www.vtcourts.gov/media/12553)

Qualifies:

No dollar threshold at all. Qualification turns on RELATIONSHIP, ROLE AND ASSET TYPE: the movant must be the sole beneficiary under the will or the sole heir if intestate, must be the sole fiduciary, and the decedent must have owned no real property in Vermont.

Typical duration:

4-9 months

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

32 V.S.A. § 1434 prints no separate line for this route; the estate opens on the ordinary banded filing fee.

Vermont has NO transfer-on-death deed. It has the Enhanced Life Estate Deed Act, 27 V.S.A. chapter 6 - a Lady Bird deed. A validly executed and recorded ELE deed does not affect the grantor's ownership rights or creditors, transfers no present interest to the grantee, and does not expose the property to the grantee's creditors. The grantor may convey the property during life without the grantee's joinder or consent. If not conveyed during the grantor's life, the interest vests in the grantee at death subject to encumbrances of record.

• Executed and recorded during the grantor's life in the land records of the town where the land lies
• An optional statutory form is provided at 27 V.S.A. § 660

Qualifies:

Not applicable. A recorded enhanced life estate deed passes the described real property outside probate at the grantor's death.

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one