Windsor Probate Division Guide

Note: VERMONT PROBATE FILING FEES ARE STATEWIDE BY STATUTE AND BANDED BY ESTATE VALUE. One schedule, 32 V.S.A. § 1434, governs all 14 probate divisions; no county sets, keeps or varies a probate filing fee, and the Judiciary republishes the same figures in the 'Probate Division Fees' accordion at https://www.vtcourts.gov/fees with the statutory subdivision printed beside each row. Every amount here was read at the statute AND on that page on 2026-08-04. WHY NO SINGLE formal_administration NUMBER IS STORED: the estate filing fee is graduated across the eight bands of § 1434(a)(1)-(8), from $50.00 at or under $10,000.00 to $3,250.00 above $10,000,000.00. A single figure would be published verbatim as 'Formal administration: $X' and would misstate seven of the eight bands, so the eight estate_* fields ARE the fact. THE ONE FLAT NUMBER, and the builder-read one, is small_estate_affidavit: the affidavit procedure for small estates under Vermont Rule of Probate Procedure 80.3 is a flat $50.00 under § 1434(a)(30). Read that number carefully: a small estate that proceeds by PETITION under 14 V.S.A. § 1901 instead pays the ordinary band fee, which is $50.00 at or under $10,000.00 but $110.00 above it, because the $45,000.00 small-estate ceiling sits inside band (a)(2). There is no small-estate discount in Vermont; the small-estate route saves process, not money. Confirm the amount with the Probate Division before filing an affidavit estate worth more than $10,000.00. Two further Vermont-specific fee facts. § 1434(b) charges NO fee for the documents that open an estate, trust or guardianship, including the first two certificates of appointment and the letters, and allows part of a filing fee to be waived under V.R.C.P. 3.1; each additional certification of appointment is $5.00 under § 1434(c). And § 1434(a)(29) is Vermont's one COMPUTED fee: a motion to reopen an estate for a newly discovered asset is priced by applying the same eight bands to the value of the NEW ASSET alone, not to the original estate, which is why the $90.00 reopening fee of 32 V.S.A. § 1431(e) expressly excepts estates. An appeal from the Probate Division goes to the CIVIL DIVISION of the Superior Court, not to the Supreme Court first, and costs $295.00 under 32 V.S.A. § 1431(b)(7). Court copy and certificate charges are a different statute, 32 V.S.A. § 1751(b)(1): $0.25 per page with a $1.00 minimum, so a one-page copy costs $1.00, and $5.00 for an official certificate. Do not confuse § 1751(a), which sets $2.00 for town and city RECORDING officers, with § 1751(b), which governs court officers. Subdivisions (10), (28) and (31) of § 1434(a) are [Repealed.]; do not renumber around them. Confirm current amounts with the Probate Division before filing.