The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
§ 681. Persons dying testate or intestate without heirs or known legatees
When a person dies testate or intestate, seised of real or personal property in this
State, leaving no heir nor person entitled to the same, the selectboard members of
the town where the deceased last resided, if an inhabitant of the State, or of the
town in which estate lies, if the absent person resided out of the State, may file
a petition, on behalf of the town, with the Probate Division of the Superior Court
for a hearing in accordance with the Rules of Probate Procedure. (Amended 1959, No. 38, § 1, eff. March 12, 1959; 1985, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 34; 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 238a, eff. Feb. 1, 2011.)
§ 682. Repealed. 1985, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 163.
§ 683. Escheat, proceeds from sale
If sufficient cause is not shown to the contrary, at the time appointed for that purpose,
the court shall order and decree that the estate of the deceased in the State, after
the payment of just debts and charges, shall escheat. The court shall assign the personal
estate to the town where the deceased was last an inhabitant in the State and the
real estate to the towns in which the same is situated. If he or she were never an
inhabitant of the State, the whole estate shall be assigned to the towns where the
same is located. The estate shall be for the use of schools in the towns respectively
and shall be managed and disposed of like other property appropriated to the use of
the town school districts. Any property decreed to a town by virtue of this chapter
or subsequently conveyed to an incorporated school district within the town for the
use of its schools may be sold without restriction, provided the proceeds shall be
expended for the use of the schools of the town. (Amended 2017, No. 195 (Adj. Sess.), § 4.)
§ 684. Rights of heir subsequently appearing
If a devisee, legatee, heir, widow, or other person, entitled to some portion or all
of an estate, appears within 17 years from the date of the decree and files a claim
with the Probate Division of the Superior Court that made the decree, and establishes
the claim to the estate, he or she shall have possession of the same to the extent
of the claim, or, if sold, the town shall be accountable to him or her for the avails,
after deducting reasonable charges for the care of the estate. If the claim is not
made within the time mentioned, it shall be barred. (Amended 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 238a, eff. Feb. 1, 2011; 2017, No. 195 (Adj. Sess.), § 4.)