The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2024 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.
Title 14 : Decedents Estates and Fiduciary Relations
Chapter 081 : Small Estates
(Cite as: 14 V.S.A. § 1903)-
§ 1903. Same; discharge upon payment of funeral expenses; residue
(a)(1) If it appears from the record that the estate is insolvent, the fiduciary shall apply for an order of dividend from the court. If the estate is not insolvent, the fiduciary shall make payment in settlement with all known or reasonably ascertainable creditors, including payment of income taxes due for the year of the decedent’s death, and pay any remaining balance to the beneficiaries of the estate as provided by the will, if any, or as otherwise provided by law.
(2) Upon completion of the payments required by subdivision (1) of this subsection, the fiduciary shall file with the court a sworn statement setting forth the amounts and recipients of each payment.
(b) The court may discharge the fiduciary without further accounting and without notice after the fiduciary has completed the requirements of subsection (a) of this section.
(c) If a discharge is given under this section, any assets distributed by the fiduciary shall be subject to claims later established, and sections 1202 and 1203 of this title shall apply, but the executors or administrators shall not be liable to distributees for losses to them when required to reimburse creditors. Each distributee shall have a duty of proportionate contribution for any claims brought against one or more other distributees, not to exceed the amount received by the distributee from the estate. (Added 1975, No. 240 (Adj. Sess.), § 10; amended 1981, No. 150 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2009, No. 75 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 2019, No. 36, § 1.)
