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Vermont Ancillary Probate
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Vermont Ancillary Probate

Vermont ancillary probate runs under 14 V.S.A. § 113. A will allowed in another state opens a case in the county Probate Division where the Vermont land sits.

By Settled Editorial

Vermont ancillary probate is the second case that opens here when a person who lived somewhere else died owning Vermont property. 14 V.S.A. § 113 says a will allowed in another state or a foreign country "may be the subject of ancillary administration in the Probate Division of the Superior Court." The case goes to the county where the Vermont property sits.

Most families land on this question after a Vermont title attorney or a closing agent stops a sale of a camp, a woodlot, or a lake place. The Vermont step is usually smaller than it sounds, because the state runs it on the same petition a resident estate uses. This guide covers what triggers the filing, which of the 14 probate districts takes it, what has to be attached, what it costs, and how the result reaches the town land records. Read it next to how Vermont probate works for a resident estate.

Vermont Has Two Out-of-State Will Rules

Two sections sit a page apart in 14 V.S.A. chapter 3 and they answer different questions. Mixing them up sends a filing down the wrong track.

Section 112 is about how the will was signed. A will executed outside Vermont in the mode prescribed by the law of the place where it was signed, or of the testator's domicile, counts as legally executed here, so long as it is in writing and subscribed by the testator. Section 112(b) then has the court grant "letters testamentary or letters of administration with the will annexed," and those letters "extend to all the estate of the testator in this State."

Section 113 is about a will another court already allowed. Once the home state has probated the will, Vermont takes it as the subject of ancillary administration rather than re-proving the signing.

Both routes end at the same place, and 14 V.S.A. § 101 explains why one of them has to happen: "To be effective, a will must be allowed in the Probate Division of the Superior Court." A will proved in Albany or Boston does not pass a Vermont parcel on its own.

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What Actually Triggers a Vermont Case

Vermont real estate held in the decedent's own name is the trigger. Land does not travel with a person's domicile, and a court reaches only the property inside its own borders.

The tax code draws the same line in words worth borrowing. 32 V.S.A. § 7402(15) fixes the situs of real property as "the state or country in which it is located," and the situs of intangible personal property as the state where the decedent was domiciled at death. That definition governs the estate tax rather than court jurisdiction, and the split it describes matches the practical answer: a nonresident's Vermont bank or brokerage account is treated as sitting at the home state, while the Vermont acreage stays here.

Property that already carries a survivorship or beneficiary path skips this entirely. A parcel held in a revocable trust, a parcel deeded to joint tenants with survivorship, and a parcel covered by an enhanced life estate deed all move without a Vermont probate case. More on those under keeping Vermont land out of court.

Which Probate Division Takes the Filing

Venue follows the land. 4 V.S.A. § 311a(2) places a "[d]ecedent's estate for a nonresident of this State: in any district where estate of the decedent is situated." 4 V.S.A. § 313 says the same thing from the other side: if a person resided out of the State at death, the will "shall be allowed and recorded, and letters testamentary or of administration shall be granted in the Probate Court of any district in which he or she had estate."

Section 313 still prints the old phrase "Probate Court." Vermont abolished the county probate courts on February 1, 2011, and probate now runs through the Probate Division of the Superior Court, with one probate district per county under 4 V.S.A. § 272(a). Fourteen counties, fourteen districts. Use the Vermont probate court directory to find the courthouse that covers your town.

One wrinkle for an estate holding parcels in two counties: § 311a(2) says "any district," so the filing can open in either one, and the court that opens it keeps the case.

What Goes in the Petition

Vermont publishes no separate ancillary petition. The filing runs on form 700-00001, Petition to Open Decedent's Estate, the same form a Colchester resident's estate uses. Item 5 of that form's attachment list says it outright: "For Ancillary (out-of-state) estate, include authenticated copy of Will and probate from decedent's primary estate."

14 V.S.A. § 114(a) sets out three ways to authenticate, and which one applies depends on how the home jurisdiction handles wills:

  1. A duly authenticated copy of the will and the allowance of it, where the home state or country requires probate. This is the ordinary case for a filing out of another U.S. state.
  2. A duly authenticated certificate of the legal custodian of the original will, stating that the copy is true and that the will has become operative, where the home jurisdiction does not require probate.
  3. A copy of a notarial will held by a notary in a foreign state or country entitled to keep it, authenticated by that notary, where the law requires the original stay with the notary.

The rest of the packet matches a resident estate: the entry fee, a certified copy of the death certificate, the List of Interested Persons on form 700-00002, and the proposed executor or administrator's acceptance of appointment. The petition also asks for the estimated value of the real estate and the personal estate to be administered, which is the figure the entry fee bands run off.

The Hearing, and the 14 Business Days

Section 114(b) controls the timing after the petition lands. The Probate Division schedules a hearing and requires notice under the Vermont Rules of Probate Procedure. Objections to allowing the will in Vermont "shall be filed in writing not less than 14 business days prior to the hearing." If nobody objects, "the will shall be allowed without hearing."

That window is longer than the domiciliary one, and the difference is easy to miss. For a Vermont resident's will, 14 V.S.A. § 107(b) puts objections at "not less than seven days prior to the hearing." Ancillary filings get 14 business days. Two rules, two clocks, in the same chapter.

What the Allowance Does

Once the instrument is allowed here, 14 V.S.A. § 115 says "the copy shall be filed and recorded and the will shall have the same effect as if originally allowed in the same court." The out-of-state will now operates on the Vermont property as a Vermont will would.

Appointment follows. 14 V.S.A. § 902 has the court issue letters of administration to the person named executor, once that person accepts and gives any required bond. Vermont's vocabulary trips up people from Uniform Probate Code states: Title 14 says "executor or administrator" throughout and never "personal representative," and the ordinary letters carry the word administration even for a named executor. Sections 112(b) and 4 V.S.A. § 313 do use the phrase "letters testamentary," so both terms appear in the out-of-state corner of the code.

When There Is No Will

A nonresident who died intestate owning Vermont land still needs a case here, and 4 V.S.A. § 313 covers it in the same sentence: letters "testamentary or of administration" issue in any district where the person had estate. There is no will to authenticate, so the filing skips § 114 and opens as an ordinary administration.

14 V.S.A. § 903 then sets who gets appointed, working through the surviving spouse and next of kin or their nominee before reaching creditors and the court's own choice. Who inherits is a separate question, answered by Vermont intestate succession.

A Nonresident Fiduciary Needs a Vermont Agent

14 V.S.A. § 904 carries two rules and they have different reaches.

Subsection (a) is discretionary and scoped: "[i]n all cases where the principal administration is in this State," the court appoints an executor or administrator who is not domiciled in Vermont "only at the discretion of the court." A son in Connecticut asking to serve on his father's Vermont estate is asking for that discretion.

Subsection (b) is mandatory and unscoped. "Any nonresident estate fiduciary shall forthwith designate in writing a resident of this State who accepts appointment as the resident agent," agrees to take service of legal process on the fiduciary's behalf, and the appointment and acceptance "shall be filed with the court." Service on the agent is service on the fiduciary. The Judiciary publishes this as form 700-00026, Appointment of Resident Agent, dated 07/2024, and it carries both signatures on one page: the fiduciary's designation and the agent's acceptance.

Line up the agent before filing. An out-of-state executor who reaches the appointment stage without a named Vermont resident stalls there.

What It Costs

Vermont charges an ancillary estate the same entry fee as any other estate. Neither 32 V.S.A. § 1434 nor the Judiciary's published Probate Division fee schedule carries an ancillary or foreign-will line, so the fee lands in the value bands of § 1434(a):

Value of the estateEntry fee
$10,000.00 or less$50.00
More than $10,000.00 to $50,000.00$110.00
More than $50,000.00 to $150,000.00$265.00
More than $150,000.00 to $500,000.00$500.00
More than $500,000.00 to $1,000,000.00$1,000.00
More than $1,000,000.00 to $5,000,000.00$1,750.00
More than $5,000,000.00 to $10,000,000.00$2,500.00
More than $10,000,000.00$3,250.00

Three companion rules soften or add to that number. Section 1434(b) charges no fee "for necessary documents pertaining to the opening of estates," including two certificates of appointment and the letters, and allows the court to waive part of the filing fee under Rule 3.1 of the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure. Section 1434(c) charges $5.00 for each additional certification of appointment, which matters when a title company, a bank, and a closing attorney each want their own. And if the fiduciary has to sell the parcel to settle the estate, 14 V.S.A. § 1611 lets the court order a sale and § 1434(a)(26) prices the license to sell or convey real estate at $100.00.

Recording the Result With the Town Clerk

This is the step out-of-state fiduciaries get wrong most often, because Vermont has no county registry of deeds at all.

14 V.S.A. § 1742 says "[c]ertified copies of final orders or decrees of a Probate Division of the Superior Court relating to real estate shall be recorded in the office where by law a deed of the real estate is required to be recorded." 24 V.S.A. § 1154(a) names that office: a town clerk records deeds and other "instruments or evidences respecting real estate" in the town land records. So the decree that clears title goes to the clerk of the town where the parcel sits, and the Secretary of State publishes the directory of those clerks.

Recording fees are statewide at 32 V.S.A. § 1671(a)(6): $15.00 per page to record any document that becomes a matter of public record, $10.00 per page for a certified copy, and $15.00 for a property transfer return. One trap sits at § 1671(f): when a new instrument affects more than one previously recorded instrument, the per page fee gets assessed "for each document affected." A short decree touching several old deeds can cost more than its own page count.

Do not skip this filing after the court closes the case. An allowed will and a signed decree sitting only in the court file leave the town land records showing a dead owner, and the next buyer's attorney will find it. If the heirs plan to sell, walk through selling the Vermont property afterward before listing.

Creditors, and the Home State's Deadline

An ancillary estate runs the same claims process as a resident estate, and 14 V.S.A. § 1203 adds one sentence written for exactly this situation.

Section 1203(a)(1) bars claims not presented "within four months after the date of the first publication of notice to creditors," then continues: "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." A creditor who ran out of time in the home state does not get a fresh run at the Vermont assets. Section 1203(a)(2) sets the backstop at one year after death where no notice was published.

Publishing notice is the fiduciary's shield, and Vermont creditor claims walks the notice, the presentment, and the disallowance steps. The broader duty list for whoever is appointed sits in Vermont executor duties.

Vermont Taxes on a Nonresident's Property

Start with what Vermont does not have. Its inheritance tax chapter, 32 V.S.A. chapter 181, reads "§§ 6501-6952. Repealed." at the section list, and chapter 183, the additional estate tax, reads "§§ 7001-7005. Repealed." No Vermont tax falls on a beneficiary for receiving property.

The estate tax is live. 32 V.S.A. § 7442a charges nothing on a Vermont taxable estate under $5,000,000.00 and 16 percent of the excess at $5,000,000.00 or more. Then comes the part that matters to a nonresident: the resulting amount gets multiplied by "a fraction not greater than one," the numerator being the Vermont gross estate plus Vermont-situs gifts and the denominator the federal gross estate plus gifts. Section 7402(13) defines the Vermont gross estate as the federal gross estate "excluding the value of property that has its situs outside Vermont."

Read those together and the shape is clear. The $5,000,000.00 threshold gets measured against the whole estate, not the Vermont slice, and only then does the fraction cut the bill down to Vermont's share. A large out-of-state estate with a modest Vermont camp can owe Vermont estate tax; a small estate whose only Vermont asset is that camp will not.

Three more provisions apply to the fiduciary of an ancillary estate:

  • 32 V.S.A. § 7446 puts the return due within nine months of the death, with a six-month extension available if requested before the period expires.
  • 32 V.S.A. § 7450 gives an executor or administrator appointed "upon ancillary proceedings or otherwise" the same powers, duties and liabilities "as though the decedent had been a resident of Vermont."
  • 32 V.S.A. § 7451 lets the Commissioner of Taxes apply to the Probate Division for appointment of a Vermont administrator when there is no Vermont administration at all. Ignoring a Vermont parcel does not make the question go away.

The court is also required to tell the tax department the case exists. 4 V.S.A. § 369(a) makes the judge who issued the appointment notify the Commissioner of Taxes in writing, with the decedent's name and residence and the fiduciary's name.

Vermont's property transfer tax is a separate chapter and it turns on the instrument. 32 V.S.A. § 9602 imposes the tax "upon the transfer by deed of title to property located in this State," and the exemption list at § 9603 names no transfer by will or by intestacy. A probate decree is a court order rather than a deed. The later sale to a buyer is a deed transfer, which is where this question usually bites. Confirm the return with the Vermont Department of Taxes before recording anything.

Keeping Vermont Land Out of a Second Case

Planning ahead removes the whole filing, and Vermont's menu differs from its neighbors'.

There is no Vermont transfer on death deed for real estate. What Vermont offers instead is the Enhanced Life Estate Deed Act, 27 V.S.A. chapter 6, added by 2019 Act 145 and effective July 13, 2020. The owner keeps full control during life and the remainder passes at death without probate.

A revocable trust holding the parcel works the same way, with the deed into the trust recorded in the town land records during life.

Joint tenancy works too, and Vermont makes you say so. 27 V.S.A. § 2(a) construes a conveyance or devise to two or more people as an estate in common unless the instrument states that the grantees or devisees "shall take the lands jointly or as joint tenants or in joint tenancy or to them and the survivors of them," with a carve-out for trusts and for spouses. A deed that just lists two names creates no survivorship.

One more route exists for title that went stale long ago. 14 V.S.A. § 1801 lets the Probate Division determine title when record title stands in the name of someone dead more than seven years whose estate was never probated. The fee is $100.00 under 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(22). That is a title-clearing petition rather than an estate, so it does not substitute for an ancillary case where the death is recent.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does an out-of-state estate need a Vermont filing?

When the person died owning Vermont real estate in their own name. 14 V.S.A. § 101 says a will is not effective until it is allowed in the Probate Division of the Superior Court, so a will proved in New York or Massachusetts does not move a Vermont parcel by itself. 14 V.S.A. § 113 supplies the route: a will allowed in another state or a foreign country may be the subject of ancillary administration here.

Which Vermont county takes the ancillary filing?

The county where the Vermont property sits. 4 V.S.A. § 311a(2) places a nonresident decedent's estate in any district where estate of the decedent is situated, and 4 V.S.A. § 313 grants letters in any district in which the person had estate. Vermont has 14 probate districts, one per county, under 4 V.S.A. § 272(a).

Is there a separate Vermont ancillary probate form?

No. Vermont uses the same Petition to Open Decedent's Estate, form 700-00001, that a resident estate uses. Item 5 of the attachment list on that form tells an ancillary filer to include an authenticated copy of the will and of its probate from the estate opened in the decedent's home state. 14 V.S.A. § 114(a) sets out the three authentication routes the court will accept.

Can an out-of-state executor serve in Vermont?

Sometimes, and never without a Vermont agent. 14 V.S.A. § 904(a) lets the Probate Division appoint an executor or administrator who is not domiciled in Vermont only at the discretion of the court where the principal administration is here. 14 V.S.A. § 904(b) then requires any nonresident estate fiduciary to designate a Vermont resident who accepts service of legal process, on form 700-00026, filed with the court.

What does Vermont ancillary probate cost?

The ordinary banded entry fee. Neither 32 V.S.A. § 1434 nor the Judiciary's Probate Division fee schedule carries an ancillary line, so the fee follows the value of the assets being administered: $50.00 at $10,000.00 or less, $110.00 above that up to $50,000.00, $265.00 up to $150,000.00, and $500.00 up to $500,000.00. Section 1434(b) charges nothing for the documents that open the estate.

Where does the Vermont decree get recorded?

With the town clerk, not a county registry. 14 V.S.A. § 1742 sends certified copies of probate decrees relating to real estate to the office where a deed of that real estate has to be recorded, and 24 V.S.A. § 1154(a) puts deeds and instruments respecting real estate in the town land records. Recording costs $15.00 per page under 32 V.S.A. § 1671(a)(6).

Does Vermont tax a nonresident's Vermont property at death?

It can. 32 V.S.A. § 7442a taxes a Vermont taxable estate of $5,000,000.00 or more at 16 percent of the excess, then multiplies the result by a fraction whose numerator is the Vermont gross estate. Under 32 V.S.A. § 7402(15), real property has its situs where it is located and intangible personal property has its situs at the decedent's domicile. Vermont's inheritance tax chapter, 32 V.S.A. chapter 181, reads Repealed.

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It is not legal advice.

Information current as of August 4, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Vermont can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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