Vermont timeline
Vermont probate timeline: when creditor claims close
The waiting-period requirement has not been verified, so no number is published below.
Creditor-claim deadline in a full Vermont administration, counted from publication of the notice to creditors: 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 (14 V.S.A. § 1203(a)(1)). Source: 14 V.S.A. § 1203. The clock running from the date of death is set out below.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Sources rechecked October 3, 2026. This page last revised .
The one date this page can source
No waiting-period number is published for the commencement of small estate route. Section 1901 states filing prerequisites but no post-death waiting period; absence from that section alone does not prove that no court rule supplies one. Read: 14 V.S.A. ch. 81 and Vermont Rules of Probate Procedure.
Source: 14 V.S.A. § 1901, Vermont Statutes, Commencement of Small Estate(Vermont General Assembly; The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.).
The section’s own words
§ 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.
Creditor deadlines
- From publication of notice to creditors
- 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 (14 V.S.A. § 1203(a)(1)).
- Outer limit, running from death
- 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 (14 V.S.A. § 1203(a)(2)). Under § 1201 the court may excuse notice in stated circumstances, and claims barred by the nonclaim statute of the decedent's domicile before first publication are also barred in Vermont.
How these combine. 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.
Source: 14 V.S.A. § 1203, Vermont Statutes, Limitations on Presentation of Claims(Vermont General Assembly; The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.).
The section’s own words
(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.
General sequence: first week, how long probate takes.
Sources rechecked October 3, 2026: Vermont source list · how sources are checked · report a correction