How Do I Claim a Small Estate in Vermont?

An estate of $45,000 or less, per 14 V.S.A. §§ 1901-1903.

Small Estate Administration: for an estate with a fair market value of not more than $45,000 that "consists entirely of personal property, provided that the estate may include a time-share estate as defined by 32 V.S.A. § 3619(a)," the estate is commenced by filing a petition to open a probate estate (form 700-00001SM) with a list of interested persons, the filing fee, an original death certificate, an inventory including information or estimates available at the time of filing, an affidavit of paid and outstanding funeral expenses and any other known or reasonably ascertainable debts, a bond without surety in the amount of the estate's fair market value, and the will if any (14 V.S.A. § 1901(a)). Interested persons who do not consent in writing receive notice and may object within 14 days; absent objection the fiduciary appointment and any will are approved without further notice or hearing (§ 1901(b)). Letters of administration then issue under §§ 902-903 and run for one year, extendable for good cause (§ 1902(a), (c)). The fiduciary confirms, corrects, or supplements the inventory within 60 days (§ 1902(b)), pays known debts and funeral and burial expenses, applies for an order of dividend if the estate is insolvent, pays any remaining balance to the beneficiaries, and then files a sworn statement — the Affidavit of Payment, judiciary form 700-00055 — setting forth the amounts and recipients of each payment, on which the court may discharge the fiduciary without further accounting or notice and without a tax clearance (§ 1903(a), (b); V.R.P.P. 80.3(f)). If the estate turns out to exceed $45,000, the fiduciary must petition to convert to regular administration (§ 1901(c)). Alternative affidavit route: where the estate "consists solely of one or more assets that may pass in accordance with the terms of the will, if any, or the law of descent and survivor's rights" — the classic case being a single small bank account — an interested person may, in lieu of the petition, pay the small-estate entry fee and file an affidavit with a death certificate and the will if any, attesting to the matters in Rule 80.3(a)(5) and (6) and that notice has been given to or consent obtained from the other interested persons; the court may then order the asset or assets distributed (V.R.P.P. 80.3(g); entry fee $50.00 under 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(30), which still cites the pre-2020 lettering "Rule 80.3(h)"). Even on that route the operative instrument is the court's distribution order, not the affidavit.

The small-estate proceeding is available only when the estate "consists entirely of personal property," with one statutory exception: it "may include a time-share estate as defined by 32 V.S.A. § 3619(a)" — a right to occupy a unit during separated time periods coupled with a freehold estate or an estate for years. An estate holding any other Vermont real property requires regular probate administration. Note that the judiciary's own petition prints a narrower recital than the statute: the petitioner signs that the decedent died "leaving personal property valued at $45,000 or less and no real estate" (form 700-00001SM), so the time-share allowance is not reflected on the form's face. Separately, 14 V.S.A. ch. 80's waiver-of-administration route (which also requires that the decedent owned no Vermont real property) is not available here — § 1851 applies that chapter to "all estates, testate and intestate, other than small estates administered under chapter 81 of this title."