Estate Settlement Cost
Menu

Vermont source record

Every source behind the Vermont guide

6 primary records, quoted verbatim and checked against 19 named presence or absence conditions that must pass against the live government text. Open the record, read the words the publishing body actually used, and confirm the current rule for yourself.

Last full re-fetch September 15, 2026

What each source establishes

The Vermont guide rests on the source-backed rules this site can verify for the state: which simplified procedure exists and what it limits, what the court charges, how the person administering the estate may be paid, and the statutory creditor-deadline clocks the official text states.Every published rule below is quoted in the publisher’s own words rather than summarised.

Simplified-procedure rule

14 V.S.A. § 1901

Vermont General Assembly · The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly. · Verified August 9, 2026

§ 1901. Commencement of small estate (a) When a decedent's estate has a fair market value of not more than $45,000.00 and consists entirely of personal property, provided that the estate may include a time-share estate as defined by 32 V.S.A. § 3619(a), an estate may be commenced by filing: (1) a petition to open a probate estate; (2) a list of interested persons; (3) the filing fee; (4) an original death certificate; (5) an inventory of the estate, including information or estimates available at the time of filing; (6) an affidavit of paid and outstanding funeral expenses and any other known or reasonably ascertainable debts of the decedent; (7) a bond without surety in the amount of the fair market value of the estate; and (8) the will, if any.

What was published from this source

  • VT 14 V.S.A. § 1901

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • VT small-estate threshold and scope
  • VT section identity
  • section identity

Response digest 5f1c22028321217a… · HTTP 200

Court cost rule

32 V.S.A. § 1434

Vermont General Assembly · The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly. · Verified August 9, 2026

§ 1434. Probate cases (a) The following entry fees shall be paid to the Probate Division of the Superior Court for the benefit of the State, except for subdivisions (18) and (19) of this subsection, which shall be for the benefit of the county in which the fee was collected: (1) Estates of $10,000.00 or less $50.00 (2) Estates of more than $10,000.00 to not more than $50,000.00 $110.00 (3) Estates of more than $50,000.00 to not more than $150,000.00 $265.00 (4) Estates of more than $150,000.00 to not more than $500,000.00 $500.00 (5) Estates of more than $500,000.00 to not more than $1,000,000.00 $1,000.00 (6) Estates of more than $1,000,000.00 to not more than $5,000,000.00 $1,750.00 (7) Estates of more than $5,000,000.00 to not more than $10,000,000.00 $2,500.00 (8) Estates of more than $10,000,000.00 $3,250.00

What was published from this source

  • VT 32 V.S.A. § 1434

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • VT estate fee bands
  • VT fee section identity
  • section identity

Response digest c111a709ccbd2085… · HTTP 200

Court cost rule

32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(30)

Vermont General Assembly · The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly. · Verified August 9, 2026

(30) Affidavit procedure for small estates pursuant to Rule 80.3(h) of the Vermont Rules of Probate Procedure $50.00

What was published from this source

  • VT 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(30)

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • VT small-estate affidavit $50 entry fee
  • section identity

Response digest 3fe12538fe216087… · HTTP 200

Creditor deadline rule

14 V.S.A. § 1201

Vermont General Assembly · The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly. · Verified August 9, 2026

§ 1201. Notice to creditors (a) The Probate Division of the Superior Court may issue an order excusing the executor or administrator from complying with the notice to creditors provisions of the Rules of Probate Procedure when it appears to the court that: (1) there are no debts existing against the decedent; or (2) that the debts against the decedent are all known to the executor or administrator and there are funds to pay them; or (3) the value of the estate does not exceed the sum of $2,500.00 and is assigned for the support of the surviving spouse.

What was published from this source

  • VT 14 V.S.A. § 1201

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • VT notice may be excused
  • VT claims section identity
  • section identity

Response digest 1125a042c9d425f1… · HTTP 200

Executor compensation rule

32 V.S.A. § 1143

Vermont General Assembly · The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly. · Verified August 9, 2026

§ 1143. Compensation of appointees Persons acting under the authority of the Probate Division of the Superior Court shall be paid as follows: (1) for each day's attendance by executor, administrator, trustee, agent, or guardian, on the business of their appointment, $4.00; (2) for each day's attendance of commissioners, appraisers, or committee, $4.00; and (3) the Probate Division of the Superior Court may allow in cases of unusual difficulty or responsibility such further sum as it judges reasonable.

What was published from this source

  • VT 32 V.S.A. § 1143

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • VT executor per-diem $4.00
  • VT court-allowed further reasonable sum
  • VT compensation section identity
  • section identity

Response digest 17cefcc32500427e… · HTTP 200

Creditor deadline rule

14 V.S.A. § 1203

Vermont General Assembly · The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly. · Verified August 9, 2026

(1) within four months after the date of the first publication of notice to creditors if notice is given in compliance with the Rules of Probate Procedure; provided, however, that claims barred by the nonclaim statute of the decedent's domicile before the first publication for claims in this State are also barred in this State; (2) within one year after the decedent's death if notice to creditors has not been published or otherwise given as provided by the Rules of Probate Procedure.

What was published from this source

  • VT 14 V.S.A. § 1203

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • VT four-month publication bar
  • VT one-year no-notice bar
  • VT claim-limitations section identity
  • section identity

Response digest e6331bf3b8f2f766… · HTTP 200

Vermont source decision map

How the Vermont records fit together

The source record is most useful when each citation has a job. This map links the Vermont procedure, cost, compensation, and deadline records to the decision each one can and cannot answer.

QuestionRecorded Vermont answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Commencement of small estateConfirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route.
What property and basis count?personal probate property only; gross value for this route.Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately.
What is the amount screen?$45,000Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut.
What is the time or deadline record?No waiting-period number verified; 14 V.S.A. § 1203 sets two separate claim clocks that must be read apart: a four-month bar running from first publication of notice to creditors where notice is given, and a one-year bar running from death where no notice is published. The four-month period is stated in months, so it is not reduced to a fixed number of days.Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number.
What does the cost record establish?2 published schedules; the proceeding and value basis control the total.Ask the Probate Division of the Superior Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?32 V.S.A. § 1143 is the fiduciary-compensation statute: an executor or administrator is paid $4.00 for each day's attendance on the business of the appointment, and in cases of unusual difficulty or responsibility the Probate Division of the Superior Court may allow such further sum as it judges reasonable. The $4.00 per-diem is a nominal, archaic figure, so in any non-trivial estate the operative compensation is the further reasonable sum the court allows rather than a percentage of the estate. That is a fact about the statute, not an omission: Vermont publishes no percentage schedule. The relevant base is the estate accounting.Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.

Decision boundary

What the Vermont source set does not silently decide

The Vermont records establish the rules listed above, but they do not turn a source citation into advice about title, family priority, tax filing, contested proceedings, or the exact clerk practice in every county. Those questions stay with the official court or a qualified adviser. The useful next step is to match the question to the citation rather than treating the longest quote as the answer to every estate problem.

Arithmetic illustration

See the Vermont amount screen without mistaking it for a result

The recorded Vermont ceiling is $45,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $33,800 sits below the Vermont figure and $56,300 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Vermont counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.

Illustrative counted amountComparison to the Vermont ceilingWhat it does not decide
$33,800Below $45,000Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$56,300Above $45,000Whether another statutory route or court process applies

Next evidence to collect

Open the quoted record for the row you rely on and check the publisher's current text before filing.

  1. Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
  2. Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
  3. Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
  4. Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.

Official material

The Vermont Judiciary probate hub and statewide court-location directory both returned HTTP 200.

The Vermont Judiciary probate page states that forms for small estates and formal estates are found on the Estates and Wills page (linked above). The small-estate route itself is a filing in the Probate Division of the Superior Court in the county of residence rather than a self-executing affidavit; 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(30) also provides a distinct affidavit procedure for small estates under Probate Rule 80.3(h).

Source trail

Records used by this Vermont map

What Vermont courts publish

The statutes on this page state the rule. These are the documents the court itself publishes. Every link is probed before release, and any link that stops resolving fails the build rather than staying on the page.

Limits on court material

  • The Vermont Judiciary probate hub and statewide court-location directory both returned HTTP 200.
  • The Vermont Judiciary probate page states that forms for small estates and formal estates are found on the Estates and Wills page (linked above). The small-estate route itself is a filing in the Probate Division of the Superior Court in the county of residence rather than a self-executing affidavit; 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(30) also provides a distinct affidavit procedure for small estates under Probate Rule 80.3(h).

Checking these Vermont records against the publishers

Every citation above links to the body that publishes it, and every quoted sentence is reproduced exactly, so a text search on the publisher’s own page should land on it. Where the publisher’s current wording differs from what is recorded here, the publisher governs and this page is wrong; naming the citation and the language you see maps the difference onto a specific condition rather than a general complaint. The full procedure, including how a source qualifies in the first place and what disqualifies one, is set out once on the methodology page instead of being restated on each of the254 state records.

These records cover the cost and route questions this site answers for Vermont. They do not cover intestate succession shares, spousal and family allowances, creditor priority, tax filing obligations, real-property transfer mechanics, or contested proceedings. Where an answer would require one of those, the site says so rather than estimating.

Return to the Vermont estate guide ·All 254 records ·Dataset overview and citation ·How sources are selected