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: 18 V.S.A. § 7510)
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§ 7510. Preliminary hearing
(a) Within five days after a person is admitted to a designated hospital for emergency
examination, he or she may request the Superior Court to conduct a preliminary hearing
to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that he or she was a person
in need of treatment at the time of his or her admission.
(b) The court shall conduct the hearing within three working days after the filing of
the request. The court shall cause timely notice of the preliminary hearing to be
given to the patient or the patient’s attorney, the hospital, and the attorney for
the applicant.
(c) The individual has the right to be present and represented by legal counsel at the
preliminary hearing.
(d) If probable cause to believe that the individual was a person in need of treatment
at the time of his or her admission is established at the preliminary hearing, the
individual shall be ordered held for further proceedings in accordance with the law.
If probable cause is not established, the individual shall be ordered discharged from
the hospital and the court shall order him or her returned to the place from which
he or she was transported or to his or her home.
(e) Upon a showing of need, the court may grant a reasonable continuance to either the
patient’s attorney or the attorney for the State. (Added 1977, No. 252 (Adj. Sess.), § 17; amended 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 238; 2019, No. 167 (Adj. Sess.), § 20, eff. Oct. 7, 2020; 2023, No. 6, § 201, eff. July 1, 2023.)