The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 12: Court Procedure

Chapter 167: Declaratory Judgments Act

• § 4711. Declaratory judgment; scope

  Superior Courts within their jurisdictions shall have power to declare rights, status, and other legal relations whether or not further relief is or could be claimed. An action or proceeding shall not be open to objection on the grounds that a declaratory judgment or decree is prayed for. The declaration may be either affirmative or negative in form and effect. Such declarations shall have the force and effect of a final judgment or decree. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 236, eff. March 29, 1972; 1973, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 9, 1974; 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 81, eff. Feb. 1, 2011.)

• § 4712. Party plaintiff; power to construe

  A person interested under a deed, will, written contract, or other writings constituting a contract, or whose rights, status, or other legal relations are affected by a statute, municipal ordinance, contract, or franchise, may have determined any question of construction or validity arising under the instrument, statute, ordinance, contract, or franchise and obtain a declaration of rights, status, or other legal relations thereunder.

• § 4713. Before breach of contracts

  A contract may be construed either before or after there has been a breach thereof.

• § 4714. Fiduciaries; executors

  A person interested as or through an executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, or other fiduciary, creditor, devisee, legatee, heir, next of kin, or cestui que trust, in the administration of a trust, or of the estate of a decedent, an infant, a person lacking mental capacity, or a person without financial resources, may have a declaration of rights or legal relations in respect thereto:

  (1) to ascertain any class of creditors, devisees, legatees, heirs, next of kin, or others; or

  (2) to direct the executors, administrators, or trustees to do or abstain from doing any particular act in their fiduciary capacity; or

  (3) to determine any question arising in the administration of the estate or trust, including questions of construction of wills and other writings. (Amended 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 48.)

• § 4715. Construction; general powers of court

  The enumeration in sections 4712-4714 of this title does not limit or restrict the exercise of the general powers conferred in section 4711 of this title, in any proceeding where declaratory relief is sought, in which a judgment or decree will terminate the controversy or remove an uncertainty.

• § 4716. Refusal to enter judgment; discretion of court

  The court may refuse to render or enter a declaratory judgment or decree where such judgment or decree, if rendered or entered, would not terminate the uncertainty or controversy giving rise to the proceeding.

• § 4717. Review

  All orders, judgments, and decrees under this chapter may be reviewed as other orders, judgments, and decrees.

• § 4718. Further proceedings

  Further relief based on a declaratory judgment or decree may be granted whenever necessary or proper. The application therefor shall be by petition to a court having jurisdiction to grant the relief. When the application is deemed sufficient, on reasonable notice, the court shall require any adverse party whose rights have been adjudicated by the declaratory judgment or decree to show cause why further relief should not be granted forthwith.

• § 4719. Jury trial

  When a proceeding under this chapter involves the determination of an issue of fact, or a mixed issue of law and fact, such issue may be tried in the court in which the proceeding is pending and determined in the same manner as issues of fact and mixed issues of law and fact are tried and determined in other civil actions, with the right to trial by jury preserved to the parties, on any issue as to which such right would have existed in an action for affirmative relief. (Amended 1963, No. 176, § 1; 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 130, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• § 4720. Costs

  In any proceedings under this chapter, the court may make such award of costs as may seem equitable and just.

• § 4721. Parties

  When declaratory relief is sought, all persons shall be made parties who have or claim any interest which would be affected by the declaration, and no declaration shall prejudice the rights of persons not parties to the proceeding. In any proceeding which involves the validity of a municipal ordinance or franchise, such municipality shall be made a party and shall be entitled to be heard. If the statute, ordinance, or franchise is alleged to be unconstitutional, the Attorney General shall also be served with a copy of the proceeding and be entitled to be heard.

• § 4722. Construction

  This chapter is declared to be remedial. Its purpose is to settle and to afford relief from uncertainty and insecurity with respect to rights, status, and other legal relations and it is to be liberally construed and administered.

• § 4723. Definition

  The word “person” wherever used in this chapter shall be construed to mean any person, partnership, joint stock company, unincorporated association or society, or municipal or other corporation of any character whatsoever.

• § 4724. Separability of provisions

  The several sections and provisions of this chapter, except sections 4711 and 4712, are hereby declared independent and severable, and the invalidity, if any, of any part or feature thereof shall not affect or render the remainder of the chapter invalid or inoperative.

• § 4725. Uniformity of interpretation

  This chapter shall be so interpreted and construed as to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law of those states which enact it, and as far as possible to harmonize with federal laws and regulations on the subject of declaratory judgments and decrees.