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.
(Cite as: 14 V.S.A. § 2329)
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§ 2329. Testamentary additions to trusts; pour over trusts
A devise or bequest, the validity of which is determinable by the law of this State,
may be made by a will to the trustee or trustees of a trust established or to be established
by the testator or by the testator and some other person or persons or by some other
person or persons, including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, although the
trustor has reserved any or all rights of ownership of the insurance contracts, if
the trust is identified in the testator’s will and its terms are set forth in a written
instrument, other than a will, executed before or concurrently with the execution
of the testator’s will or in the valid last will of a person who has predeceased the
testator, regardless of the existence, size, or character of the corpus of the trust.
The devise or bequest shall not be invalid because the trust is amendable or revocable,
or both, or because the trust was amended after the execution of the will or after
the death of the testator. Unless the testator’s will provides otherwise, the property
so devised or bequeathed: (a) shall not be deemed to be held under a testamentary
trust of the testator, but shall become a part of the trust to which it is given;
and (b) shall be administered and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of
the instrument or a will of a person other than the testator setting forth the terms
of the trust, including any amendments thereto made before the death of the testator,
regardless of whether made before or after the execution of the testator’s will, and,
if the testator’s will so provides, including any amendments to the trust made after
the death of the testator. A revocation or termination of the trust before the death
of the testator shall cause the devise or bequest to lapse. However, when the testator’s
will specifically sets forth the terms of the trust, whether or not the trust is subsequently
amended, revoked, or terminated, the property devised or bequeathed under the will
shall be deemed to be held under a testamentary trust of the testator and shall be
administered and disposed of in accordance with the provision of the testator’s will. (Added 1961, No. 208, § 1, eff. July 11, 1961; amended 2017, No. 195 (Adj. Sess.), § 15.)