Does Vermont allow a transfer on death deed?

Vermont at a glance

TOD deed for real estate

No

How a house passes in Vermont without a TOD deed

• Small-estate affidavit cap. No affidavit
• Real estate. Owning any real estate other than a timeshare disqualifies the small-estate procedure; full probate is required, and selling the property needs a license to sell or convey from the court.
• Small estate proceeding (Probate Division). Used when the estate is worth $45,000 or less and is entirely personal property (a timeshare is allowed). File a petition, list of interested persons, fee, death certificate, inventory, funeral/debt affidavit, bond without surety and any will. Interested persons who do not consent get notice and 14 days to object. Letters last one year; the fiduciary pays debts, distributes, files a sworn report and may be discharged without a full accounting. A separate waiver of administration (14 V.S.A. ch. 80) is available when the sole heir or sole beneficiary is the sole fiduciary and the decedent owned no Vermont real estate. A simpler court route also exists: under V.R.P.P. 80.3(g), when the estate passes solely by will, descent or survivorship, an interested person may pay the small-estate entry fee and file an affidavit (with death certificate and any will) instead of a petition, and the court may order distribution.

All Vermont small-estate rules, with sources →

What people in Vermont use instead

Vermont's Enhanced Life Estate Deed Act (27 V.S.A. ch. 6, §§ 651-660, effective July 13, 2020) lets an owner keep a life estate and the right to sell, mortgage, revise or revoke, with title vesting in the named grantee at the owner's death; the statute gives an optional form (§ 660). Unlike a TOD deed, a recorded ELE deed is subject to the property transfer tax (§ 654(d)).

Good to know in Vermont

• No Vermont TOD deed bill was found in the official statutes; only the ELED Act exists for real estate.
• ELE deed facts (27 V.S.A. ch. 6): grantor must be a natural person; no acceptance or consideration needed (§ 655); revoked by recording a deed from the grantor to himself or herself, revised by recording a new ELE deed naming all grantees (§ 653); a mortgage does not revoke it (§ 656); a guardian needs Probate Division approval, an agent needs a compliant power of attorney (§ 657).
• If an ELE grantee dies before the grantor, that share goes to the grantee's heirs or beneficiaries as directed by the Probate Division, unless the grantees held as joint tenants (§ 658).
• Lady Bird / Medicaid / reserved-powers deeds recorded before July 13, 2020 stay valid (§ 659).
• 14 V.S.A. § 321(b): the rule that voids a transfer made to defeat a surviving spouse's intestate or elective share does not affect an enhanced life estate deed.

Official pages

• Vermont TOD deed form
• Vermont statute
• No TOD deed or other plan? How Vermont handles a small estate without probate →

Sources

• 27 V.S.A. chapter 6, Enhanced Life Estate Deed Act (read October 28, 2026)
• 9 V.S.A. chapter 134, Transfer on Death Security Registration (read October 28, 2026)
• 14 V.S.A. § 321 (ELE deed defined; not affected by spousal-defeat rule) (read October 28, 2026)

Legal information from the official sources above, not legal advice. A TOD deed can affect Medicaid, taxes, creditors and co-owners; for a decision about your own property, ask the county recorder, a legal aid office or a lawyer. How we check: methodology.