How Do I Get Appointed as Executor in Vermont?

In Vermont, the Vermont Superior Court, Probate Division appoints the personal representative and the Probate Division of the Superior Court issues Certificate of Appointment; every appointment goes through the court.

State

Document Type

Getting appointed in Vermont

Executor (with a will) or Administrator (no will / not named)

The form that opens the estate

700-00001

Petition to Open Decedent's Estate · Fillable PDF · View source

Start this petition for Vermont — the builder fills it with your answers. You review, sign, and file it with the court.

Where you file

Vermont Superior Court, Probate Division

What the court issues (with a will)

Certificate of Appointment

issued by Probate Division of the Superior Court

Letters are an output — the court issues them after granting the petition.

At a glance

UPC adoptedInformal trackE-filing (self-represented)Self-represented filingLocal/county forms

E-filing runs through eFile & Serve (EFS), hosted and managed by Tyler Technologies and reached at https://vermont.tylertech.cloud/OfsWeb/. Tyler rebranded the systems: "Odyssey File & Serve" (OFS) is now "eFile & Serve" (EFS), branded locally as "eFileVT", and the case management system "Odyssey" is now "Enterprise Justice" (EJ) — the court says the old names remain acceptable in communication. Registration offers an "independent user" path for self-represented litigants alongside firm/organizational registration; all users must self-register (court staff cannot register a filer). Attorneys must e-file; self-represented litigants may but are not required to. Start a case with LOCATION = the county and CATEGORY = "Probate or Mental Health". The estate case type is chosen by estate value band, paired No Will / with Will at each band: Estate 1 ($10,000 or less), Estate 2 ($10,001-$50,000), Estate 3 ($50,001-$150,000), Estate 4 ($150,001-$500,000), Estate 5 ($500,001-$1,000,000), Estate 6 ($1,000,001-$5,000,000), Estate 7 ($5,000,001-$10,000,000), Estate 8 (greater than $10,000,000). Small estates have their own two case types, keyed to the § 1901 ceiling: Small Estate 1 ($10,000 or less) and Small Estate 2 ($10,001 to $45,000).

Bond

Required before Letters: Yes
Waivable by will: No
Waivable by beneficiaries: Yes

What to file with the petition

Entry fee (checks or money orders payable to Vermont Superior Court)
Certified copy of the death certificate (plus a certified copy of the death certificate of any heir at law who predeceased the decedent, for the List of Interested Persons)
List of Interested Persons for Estates (form 700-00002E)
ORIGINAL Will and any codicils (if any)
For an ancillary (out-of-state) estate: authenticated copy of the will and probate from the decedent’s primary estate
Consent of surviving spouse and all heirs at law (14 V.S.A. § 107(a)) — allows the will to be allowed without a hearing; otherwise the court schedules a hearing with notice
Notice of Appearance - Probate Division (form 700-00148)
Certificate of Service - Probate (form 700-00008)
If there is a surviving spouse: Notice of Rights of Surviving Spouse (form 700-00047) and Notice of Elections and/or Waivers by Surviving Spouse (form 700-00049), served with a Certificate of Service (700-00008)
Estate Administration Bond (form 700-00020), filed before the court issues letters (14 V.S.A. § 906); surety may be waived on request via Waiver of Surety on Estate Administration Bond (form 700-00004), at the judge’s discretion
Appointment of Resident Agent (form 700-00026) if the fiduciary is a nonresident (14 V.S.A. § 904(b))

Small-estate alternative

Bypasses full Letters: No
Form: 700-00001SMView source
Form name: Petition to Open Small Estate

State-specific notes

Vermont does not use "Letters Testamentary". Statutorily, 14 V.S.A. § 902 has the Probate Division issue "letters of administration" even to the executor named in an allowed will, and § 903 grants "letters of administration" when there is no will — one instrument on both tracks. In practice the judiciary calls the document a CERTIFICATE OF APPOINTMENT: "When you are appointed, the Court will issue two Certificates of Appointment", and extras issue for a nominal fee (700-00302, Probating a Vermont Estate, rev. 01/2026). Neither "Letters Testamentary" nor "Letters of Administration" appears in the current judiciary materials. There is no separate fillable "Letters" form — the court issues the appointment documents after approving the petition; form 700-00001 has the appointee "ask that the appointment documents be issued to me at the address above." Deadlines: a will custodian must deliver the will within 30 days of learning of the death (§ 103), and the person named executor must file the death certificate and petition "with reasonable promptness" (§ 104(a)) — there is no fixed filing deadline and no outer limit on commencing probate (former § 105 was repealed by 2017, No. 195). A named executor who neglects for 20 days to give bond "shall not intermeddle or act as executor" (§ 909). Post-appointment, the operative inventory deadline is 30 days, NOT the 60 days in the bond condition: § 906(1) conditions the bond on returning an inventory "within 60 days as required by law and the rules of the court", but the rules are shorter — Probate Rule 66a requires the Inventory within 30 days of appointment, extendable to a maximum of 90 days for good cause on court approval (700-00302, Probating a Vermont Estate, rev. 01/2026; the estates-and-wills page states the same 30 days). An account is due within one year and annually thereafter (§ 906(3)). Vermont also offers a "waiver of administration" (14 V.S.A. §§ 1851-1854) that, for a sole beneficiary/heir who is also the sole fiduciary and where the decedent owned no Vermont real property, waives the inventory and the fiduciary bond and dispenses with further filings beyond the final affidavit of administration (due not less than six months or more than one year after appointment, § 1853(a)). Vermont has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code and has no informal/registrar track.

General information about how a personal representative is appointed, not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney for legal questions. Data verified Aug 24, 2026

Vermont uses Petition to Open Decedent's Estate (700-00001), filed with the Vermont Superior Court, Probate Division. Probate Division of the Superior Court issues Certificate of Appointment after the court grants the petition.

Along with the petition, Vermont generally requires: Entry fee (checks or money orders payable to Vermont Superior Court); Certified copy of the death certificate (plus a certified copy of the death certificate of any heir at law who predeceased the decedent, for the List of Interested Persons); List of Interested Persons for Estates (form 700-00002E); ORIGINAL Will and any codicils (if any); For an ancillary (out-of-state) estate: authenticated copy of the will and probate from the decedent’s primary estate. The court's own checklist runs longer for particular cases.

Yes. Vermont requires a bond by default before Letters issue. The beneficiaries can also waive it in writing.

Vermont permits a self-represented person to open an estate, using Petition to Open Decedent's Estate (700-00001). E-filing is open to self-represented filers. The Vermont self-file probate assessment sets self-filing against attorney costs.

Yes. A revocable living trust passes its assets to the beneficiaries without a court appointment in Vermont: no petition, no Letters, no bond. A revocable trust built with SimplyTrust takes about fifteen minutes.

Getting Appointed in Vermont

Authority to act for the estate comes from Letters issued in Vermont by Probate Division of the Superior Court, on appointment by the Vermont Superior Court, Probate Division. The document is Certificate of Appointment. Vermont has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code.

The estate is opened by filing Petition to Open Decedent's Estate (700-00001) with the court. The filing fee is $50 - $3,250 (based on estate value). Vermont has no informal (registrar) appointment track, so every appointment goes through the court.

Vermont requires a bond by default before Letters issue and the beneficiaries can waive it in writing.

For smaller estates, Vermont offers a small-estate procedure for estates under $45,000 (700-00001SM). The Vermont self-file probate assessment compares self-filing and attorney costs.

SimplyTrust Editorial·Updated September 9, 2026

Legal Sources

Data sourced from Vermont statutes and official state code. How we research.

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