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Vermont Executor Bond Requirements
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Vermont Executor Bond Requirements

Vermont requires a bond from every executor and administrator under 14 V.S.A. § 906, filed before the Probate Division issues letters of administration.

By Settled Editorial

Vermont requires a bond from every executor and administrator. 14 V.S.A. § 906 says the fiduciary shall give a bond to secure performance of the fiduciary's duties, and that the bond shall be filed before the court issues letters of administration. The Probate Division sets the amount and decides whether the bond needs sureties.

Read the sequence in that sentence, because it decides what you can do and when. The bond comes first and the authority comes second. Until the bond is on file, a Vermont fiduciary holds no letters, which means no power to touch a bank account, sign a deed, or pay a creditor. This guide covers the amount, the surety choices, the two court bond forms, the small estate variant, and the routes that shrink or end the obligation, next to the whole Vermont probate sequence. It is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your own bond figure with the Probate Division handling the estate or a licensed Vermont attorney.

Does Vermont Require an Executor Bond?

Yes, and § 906 states the requirement without writing an exception into its own text. Vermont never adopted the Uniform Probate Code, so its statutes keep the older order of operations: post first, then serve. A national article that treats the bond as something a court adds only when a beneficiary objects was written for a different state.

Two other sections show how narrow the court's discretion is. 14 V.S.A. § 902 issues letters to a will-named executor only "if the person accepts appointment and gives any required bond." 14 V.S.A. § 2101, the opening section of Vermont's probate bond chapter, says bonds required by order of the Probate Division "shall be for such sum and with such surety or sureties as the court directs, except where the law otherwise prescribes." The judge sizes the bond and rules on sureties. The existence of the bond comes from the statute.

One wording note worth carrying through the rest of your paperwork. § 902 hands a will-named executor letters of administration, not letters testamentary. The phrase most national articles use for a testate appointment is not what a Vermont clerk will print for you.

You file the bond with the Probate Division of the Superior Court for the county where the decedent lived. The Vermont probate court directory lists all fourteen divisions and their staff.

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The Five Promises Written Into a Vermont Bond

§ 906 tells the court to set the conditions of the bond and then names five that have to be in it. Read them as the job description, because that is what a surety underwrites:

  1. Make and return an inventory to the Probate Division within 60 days as required by law and the rules of the court
  2. Administer all property comprising the estate according to law and the will, whether held by the fiduciary or by others for the fiduciary's benefit, and discharge all debts, legacies, and charges
  3. Render an account of administration to the Probate Division within one year and at any other time the court requires
  4. Pay to the State of Vermont the inheritance and transfer taxes the appointee is required to pay
  5. Perform all orders and decrees of the Probate Division

The first and third promises are the ones people misread as clerical. They are bond terms. 14 V.S.A. § 1051 separately requires the 60-day inventory at date-of-death fair market value, with liens listed item by item, and lets the court extend that window for good cause. Missing it is a default with the clerk and a failure of a condition your surety signed.

Condition four needs a caution rather than an instruction. As printed, § 906(4) points at 32 V.S.A. chapters 181 and 183. Both of those chapters are repealed in full, so a reader who follows the cross-reference lands on taxes Vermont no longer charges. Vermont's live death tax lives in 32 V.S.A. chapter 190, and the current rate section is 32 V.S.A. § 7442a. Treat condition four as a general duty to settle Vermont tax before you close, and take the actual rules from chapter 190 and the Department of Taxes.

How the Probate Division Sets the Amount

No Vermont statute gives you arithmetic for an ordinary estate. § 906 leaves the amount to the court, and § 2101 says the same thing in the bond chapter.

The Vermont Judiciary fills the gap with a working rule on its Estates and Wills self-help page: "The amount of the bond is generally the value of the estate." That tracks what the bond secures, since the exposure is the property you will control.

The small estate route is the one place the number is fixed by statute. 14 V.S.A. § 1901(a)(7) calls for "a bond without surety in the amount of the fair market value of the estate," filed with the petition rather than after the appointment.

SituationStatuteBond result
Ordinary estate administration14 V.S.A. § 906Bond required, filed before letters issue; court sets the amount and rules on sureties
Small estate under chapter 8114 V.S.A. § 1901(a)(7)Bond without surety, in the amount of the fair market value of the estate
Waiver of administration granted14 V.S.A. § 1852(c)Court order waives or discharges the fiduciary bond
Two or more fiduciaries14 V.S.A. § 908Separate bonds or one joint bond, with or without sureties, at the court's option
Special administrator14 V.S.A. § 965Bond as the court directs, conditioned on inventory, accounting, and delivery
License to sell being requested14 V.S.A. § 1651(4)Court may require a new bond conditioned on accounting for the sale proceeds

Without Surety, Personal Surety, or Corporate Surety

The Estate Administration Bond gives you three boxes, and the difference between them is who else answers if the estate loses money.

  • Without surety. You alone are obligated to the Probate Division for the stated sum. Nobody else signs.
  • Personal surety. The Judiciary describes this as a financially responsible person who joins with you in the obligation of the bond. Its guidance is blunt about the consequence: if you violate your duties and cause a loss, both you and the surety are potentially liable on the bond. The form asks for the surety's name and town of residence.
  • Corporate surety. An insurance company that writes fiduciary bonds signs instead. The Judiciary tells executors to contact insurers directly and warns that there will be a bonding fee scaled to the amount of the bond.

Vermont screens the corporate option. 14 V.S.A. § 2102 bars the Probate Division from accepting a foreign fidelity insurance company as surety unless that company is authorized to do business in Vermont and has filed a certificate from the Commissioner of Financial Regulation saying so. The company pays $1.00 for each certificate. Ask the insurer whether the certificate is already on file with the court before you buy.

Once the court accepts and approves the bond, 14 V.S.A. § 2103 has it filed and docketed, and makes a certified copy of the bond evidence of the facts stated in it as though the original were produced.

Asking the Court to Waive the Surety

Interested parties can put their consent on the record. Form 700-00004, Waiver of Surety on Estate Administration Bond, is a one-page consent signed by an heir at law, and it carries its own warning: "I acknowledge that even if all heirs at law consent to the Waiver of Surety on Estate Administration Bond that the judge may still require Surety on the Bond."

So the consent is evidence for the judge to weigh, not a decision the family gets to make. The Judiciary's page says the same thing from the other direction: interested parties may consent, "but it is the judge's decision whether the surety will be waived." When the judge does waive it, you sign form 700-00020 before witnesses and file it with the court.

The Three Vermont Bond Forms

Vermont probate forms are statewide, so the same paper works in all fourteen counties. Three of them matter here.

FormNumberWhat it does
Estate Administration Bond700-00020The ordinary bond, listing six duties drawn from § 906
Small Estate Administration Bond700-00020PESMThe chapter 81 bond, filed with the Petition to Open Small Estate
Waiver of Surety on Estate Administration Bond700-00004An heir's consent to a bond without surety

Both bond forms open the same way. The signer "is/are obligated to the Vermont Superior Court, Probate Division, in the sum of" a stated figure, then checks one of the three surety boxes. Both are signed in front of two witnesses, and each surety signs separately with a mailing address. Both close with the same sentence: "When these duties are fully performed, this bond shall no longer be in force."

The duty lists differ, and the difference tells you which case you are in. Form 700-00020 begins with filing an inventory of all estate assets within 60 days of the issuance of letters. Form 700-00020PESM begins with filing an updated inventory within 60 days only if it has changed from the inventory already filed at the opening, and it ends with filing the report of fiduciary of small estate and the receipts within one year. Download the current version from the Judiciary rather than reusing a scanned copy: 700-00020 carries a 04/2025 revision and 700-00020PESM a 06/2022 revision.

The Small Estate Bond Goes In With the Petition

In a Vermont small estate, the bond is not a follow-up filing. § 1901(a) lists eight things that commence the case, and the bond is item seven, sitting between the affidavit of funeral expenses and the will.

The Judiciary's Estates and Wills page states the surety answer for this route in one line: "The Small Estate Administration Bond is without surety unless the judge orders otherwise." That is the default, and the form still carries the personal and corporate surety boxes in case the judge orders one.

Two things do not change because the estate is small. 14 V.S.A. § 1902(a) issues letters through the same §§ 902 and 903 machinery, so the bond still gates the letters. And § 1902(b) still asks the fiduciary to confirm, correct, or supplement the inventory within 60 days after letters issue.

Twenty Days to Give the Bond, or the Appointment Moves

Vermont puts a clock on a named executor who stalls. 14 V.S.A. § 909 says a person named as executor in a will who refuses appointment or neglects for 20 days to give a bond "shall not intermeddle or act as executor."

The section then reassigns the job in order. The court may grant letters of administration to any other named executor who is capable, willing, and gives bond. If the other named executors also fail to accept or to post, the court grants letters of administration with the will annexed to one or more suitable persons who could have been appointed administrator had the testator died intestate. A related section, 14 V.S.A. § 910, moves the appointment along the same way when the named executor is under age at the time the will is proved.

Twenty days of silence is enough to lose the appointment, so tell the court early if a surety is taking time to underwrite.

Co-Executors, Special Administrators, and Nonresidents

Three appointment shapes carry their own bond treatment.

Two or more fiduciaries. 14 V.S.A. § 908 lets the Probate Division take a separate bond from each, with or without sureties, or a joint bond with or without sureties from any or all of them. The court picks the structure, and co-executors should ask which one the judge wants before anyone signs.

Special administrator. The court appoints one under 14 V.S.A. § 961 when delay between the death and the appointment would jeopardize the estate, and under 14 V.S.A. § 962 when an appeal from the allowance or disallowance of a will holds up the main grant. Either way, 14 V.S.A. § 965 requires a bond before the special administrator starts work, conditioned on returning a true inventory, accounting truly for what is received, and delivering the property to the fiduciary appointed later.

Nonresident fiduciary. 14 V.S.A. § 904 leaves the appointment of a fiduciary who is not domiciled in Vermont to the court's discretion, and requires any nonresident estate fiduciary to designate in writing a Vermont resident who accepts appointment as resident agent for service of process. The section adds no separate surety rule of its own. What it adds is one more filing the court expects alongside the bond, on form 700-00026.

How the Bond Changes After You Are Appointed

The figure set at the opening is not locked for the life of the estate. Chapter 101 gives four different people a lever.

  • An interested person who thinks the bond is too small. 14 V.S.A. § 2104 lets a surviving spouse, heir, creditor, devisee, legatee, their legal representatives, or a person interested in a trust estate move for an additional bond. The court schedules a hearing, and if the bond is not sufficient it orders a new one within a set time. Missing that deadline costs the appointment: the court "shall remove the fiduciary and fill the vacancy."
  • A surety who wants out. 14 V.S.A. § 2105 lets a surety who considers itself in danger of injury move for an order that the fiduciary settle the account and give a new bond. When the new bond is filed and approved, the surety is discharged, and a fiduciary who ignores the order is removed.
  • A fiduciary who wants to swap bonds. 14 V.S.A. § 2106 lets the fiduciary file a new bond in substitution, at the court's discretion and on notice. On approval the court may accept it for any and all earlier bonds and release the former sureties from liability accruing after the substitution.
  • The judge, before a sale. 14 V.S.A. § 1651(4) lets the court require a new bond, in an amount and with sureties as it directs, before granting a license to sell real or personal estate, conditioned on accounting for the proceeds. Selling the house converts an illiquid asset into cash you control, and the bond usually rises to meet that.

Vermont adds one countermove nobody expects. Under 14 V.S.A. § 1614, an interested person can stop a license to sell real estate by posting their own bond, in a sum and with sureties the court directs, conditioned on paying the debts and expenses of administration in the time the court sets. That bond runs for the benefit of the creditors as well as the fiduciary. An heir who wants to keep the family land can pay the debts instead of watching it sold.

What a Vermont Probate Bond Costs

There is no filing fee for the bond itself. 32 V.S.A. § 1434(b) charges nothing for the documents pertaining to the opening of an estate, including the issuance of two certificates of appointment and the letters, and the Judiciary's fee schedule prints that row as "No fee."

A premium only appears when a corporate surety signs. Vermont sets no rate by statute or court rule, so the insurer prices the bond against the amount, the assets, and your credit. The Judiciary's guidance states where the receipt goes: "There will be a bonding fee for this type of surety depending upon the amount of the bond. The fee would be an administration expense which should be paid from the Estate."

Two statutes back that up. 14 V.S.A. § 1065 allows an executor or administrator necessary expenses in the care, management, and settlement of the estate along with reasonable fees for services, and Vermont sets no percentage schedule. 14 V.S.A. § 1205(a)(1) puts costs and expenses of administration in the first class of charges when the estate cannot pay everyone, ahead of funeral expenses and every ordinary creditor. Record the premium in the account the day you pay it, and keep the invoice with your receipts.

What Happens When a Bond Is Breached

A fiduciary bond is not insurance for the person serving. § 906 and § 2101 both say the bond runs "for the security and benefit of all interested persons," except where a bond is taken to the adverse party.

Suing on it runs through the Probate Division first. 14 V.S.A. § 2108 sets the sequence: a person claiming injury from a breach moves for permission to prosecute the bond and posts their own bond for costs; the Probate Division grants leave and furnishes a certified copy of the bond with a certificate; the applicant is indorsed as prosecutor on the writ and files in the Superior Court of the county where the bond was given; the complaint has to assign and set forth the specific breaches relied on. A defendant who wants to contest pleads a general denial with an affidavit within 21 days of service. Judgment for the penalty of the bond then stands as security for later breaches that are afterwards assigned and proved.

Two follow-on sections matter to families. 14 V.S.A. § 2109 lets a person injured after that judgment bring their own action on it, assigning the breaches they rely on and recovering the damages they prove with costs. 14 V.S.A. § 2110 lets an executor, administrator, or guardian prosecute a breach claim on behalf of the people they represent.

Chapter 101 is headed "Probate Bonds; Executors, Administrators, Trustees, Guardians," so the same machinery governs a Vermont guardian's bond and a trustee's.

How a Vermont Executor Bond Ends

Both bond forms carry their own termination clause: when these duties are fully performed, this bond shall no longer be in force. Getting that on the record is the part worth doing deliberately.

14 V.S.A. § 2107 is the tool. After paying and delivering the money or property as a decree of the Probate Division requires, the fiduciary may perpetuate the evidence by presenting an account of that payment within one year after the decree, or within a longer time the court allows. Once proved and verified by oath, the account "shall be allowed as his or her final discharge and ordered to be recorded," and that discharge "shall forever exonerate the accountant and his or her sureties from liability under the decree, unless his or her account is impeached for fraud or manifest error."

Two related closings are worth knowing. Under a waiver of administration, 14 V.S.A. § 1852(c) has the court issue an order waiving the duty to file an inventory, waiving or discharging the fiduciary bond, and dispensing with further filings other than the final affidavit of administration. And in an ordinary estate, 14 V.S.A. § 1069 lets the final accounting itself be waived once the estate has been open at least six months and no real estate remains, on filing five things including all interested parties' consent and a tax clearance from the Vermont Department of Taxes.

One caution about ending anything early. 14 V.S.A. § 917a says termination of the appointment ends the powers of the office but "does not discharge an executor or administrator from liability for transactions or omissions occurring before termination." Resigning does not close the book on what happened while you served, and neither does handing the file to a successor. Send your surety a copy of the discharge order when it issues, so the company stops renewing a bond that no longer secures anything.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Vermont require an executor to post a bond?

Yes. 14 V.S.A. § 906 says an executor or administrator shall give a bond to secure performance of the fiduciary's duties, and that the bond shall be filed before the court issues letters of administration. The discretion the statute hands the Probate Division runs to the amount and to whether the bond carries sureties, not to whether a bond exists. The one statutory route that removes it is waiver of administration: 14 V.S.A. § 1852(c) directs the court to issue an order waiving or discharging the fiduciary bond when it grants that motion.

How much is a Vermont probate bond?

14 V.S.A. § 906 leaves the figure to the Probate Division and sets no formula, and 14 V.S.A. § 2101 repeats that probate bonds run for such sum and with such surety or sureties as the court directs. The Vermont Judiciary's own guidance for executors says the amount of the bond is generally the value of the estate. In a small estate the statute fixes it: 14 V.S.A. § 1901(a)(7) calls for a bond without surety in the amount of the fair market value of the estate.

Can a Vermont executor serve without a surety?

Often, yes. The Estate Administration Bond, form 700-00020, carries a check box for a bond without surety alongside boxes for a personal surety and a corporate surety. Interested parties may consent by filing form 700-00004, Waiver of Surety on Estate Administration Bond, and that form states on its face that even if all heirs at law consent, the judge may still require a surety. The consent is evidence for the judge, not a decision.

What is the difference between form 700-00020 and form 700-00020PESM?

Form 700-00020 is the Estate Administration Bond used in an ordinary Vermont estate, and it lists six duties drawn from 14 V.S.A. § 906, starting with the 60-day inventory. Form 700-00020PESM is the Small Estate Administration Bond, filed with the Petition to Open Small Estate, and it lists seven duties matched to the chapter 81 route. The Judiciary's Estates and Wills page states that the small estate bond is without surety unless the judge orders otherwise.

Does a Vermont small estate need a bond?

Yes, and it goes in with the opening papers rather than after the appointment. 14 V.S.A. § 1901(a) lists eight filings that commence a small estate, and item (7) is a bond without surety in the amount of the fair market value of the estate. The bond is one of the documents pertaining to the opening of an estate, so 32 V.S.A. § 1434(b) charges no separate fee for filing it.

When does a Vermont executor bond end?

The bond form answers it directly: when these duties are fully performed, this bond shall no longer be in force. 14 V.S.A. § 2107 gives the fiduciary a way to prove that. After paying and delivering the property as a decree of the Probate Division requires, the fiduciary may file an account of that payment within one year of the decree, and an allowed account stands as a final discharge that exonerates the accountant and the sureties unless it is impeached for fraud or manifest error.

Related Guides

Bond amounts, surety orders, and waivers sit with the judge, so the answer in your estate can differ from the answer in the next one. Confirm the figure and the form with the Probate Division handling the case or a licensed Vermont attorney, and work the rest of the series from the Vermont probate hub.

Sources:

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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