Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to subnav
Searching 2023-2024 Session

The Vermont Statutes Online

The Vermont Statutes Online have been updated to include the actions of the 2023 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 27 : Property

Chapter 005 : Conveyance of Real Estate

Subchapter 007 : Marketable Record Title

(Cite as: 27 V.S.A. § 602)
  • § 602. Unbroken chain; conditions and suspension

    (a) A person shall be deemed to hold an unbroken chain of title to an interest in real estate for purposes of this subchapter when the official public records disclose:

    (1) a conveyance not less than 40 years in the past, properly executed and recorded according to law, which purports to create such interest in such person with nothing appearing of record during the 40-year period purporting to divest the person of the purported interest; or

    (2) a conveyance not less than 40 years in the past, executed and recorded according to law, which purports to create such interest in some other person and other conveyances or events of record by which the purported interest has become vested in the person first referred to, with nothing appearing of record during the 40-year period purporting to divest the person first referred to of such interest.

    (b) No absence, incapacity, disability, or lack of knowledge of any kind on the part of any person shall suspend the running of the 40-year period.

    (c) For purposes of this section, “conveyance” means any deed, lease, decree, or other written instrument proper on its face to transfer title to an interest in real estate under the laws of this State and also includes the transfer of an interest in real estate by inheritance or descent occasioned by death. (Added 1969, No. 235 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1971, No. 14, § 16, eff. March 11, 1971.)