Vermont: Personal Property Memorandum Requirements
The short answer
Vermont has no general statute authorizing a will-referenced, freely updatable personal property memorandum. Chapter 1 instead requires a binding will to be written, signed in the presence of at least two credible witnesses, and attested and subscribed by those witnesses in the presence of the testator and each other. A later binding change uses a subsequent will, which may revoke the earlier will expressly or by inconsistency under 14 V.S.A. § 11.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Vermont. Ask about your specific facts and see which parts of current Vermont law apply, with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and device recognized | No general separate-writing device in current 14 V.S.A. chs. 1 and 3; ordinary will law applies |
|---|---|
| Will reference required | N/A Vermont's wills chapters have no statute making a will's reference to an informal property list effective |
| Eligible property and exclusions | No memorandum-specific tangible-property definition, exclusion list, or value cap |
| Signature, handwriting, and date | No memorandum formality; a binding will must be written, signed, and attested by at least 2 witnesses (§ 5) |
| Item and devisee identification | No memorandum-specific item-and-recipient identification rule |
| Timing before or after the will | No statutory before-or-after-will list route |
| Alteration, replacement, and conflict priority | No informal alteration or list-priority rule; a subsequent will may revoke expressly or by inconsistency (§ 11) |
| Probate use, effect, and failure consequence | No special memorandum admissibility, filing, delivery, lapse, or savings rule in the current wills and probate chapters |
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Vermont uses a subsequent will instead
The complete current 14 V.S.A. chapter 1 covers who may make a will, execution,
military wills, witness gifts, and revocation. Chapter 3 covers allowance,
delivery, proof, notice, out-of-state wills, filing, and referral. Neither
chapter creates the special will-referenced personal property writing covered
by this survey.
A binding Vermont disposition therefore uses ordinary will law. Section 5
requires the will to be in writing and signed in the presence of two or more
credible witnesses. Those witnesses must attest and subscribe in the presence
of the testator and each other.
For a later binding change, § 11 uses a subsequent will. It may revoke the
previous will expressly or by inconsistency. The section presumes replacement
when the subsequent will completely disposes of the estate and supplementation
when it does not, subject in each instance to clear and convincing evidence.
What trips people up
Section 11 is Vermont's revocation provision, not its execution provision. The
ordinary execution requirements are in § 5. A form that labels § 11 as authority
for a two-witness codicil is citing the wrong rule.
Vermont's current wills and probate chapters supply no memorandum-specific
property exclusions, value ceiling, date rule, item-and-recipient formula,
alteration method, competing-list priority, or special probate filing rule.
Those features should not be borrowed from another state's statute.
Common questions
Can a Vermont will simply refer to a list made later?
The current wills chapters have no statute giving that arrangement the survey's
special effect. Put binding dispositions in a will that satisfies § 5 rather
than relying on the reference alone.
Is a signed list enough to operate as a later will?
Section 5 requires more than the testator's signature. The will must be signed
in the presence of at least two credible witnesses, who must attest and subscribe
in the presence of the testator and each other.
How does a later will interact with the earlier one?
Section 11 distinguishes a later will that completely disposes of the estate
from one that does not. It supplies replace-or-supplement presumptions and makes
the later will revoke the earlier one to the extent of inconsistency when the
supplement presumption controls.
Does Vermont set a property type or value limit for a memorandum?
No. Because there is no memorandum statute, the wills chapters state no
memorandum-specific eligible-property list, exclusion, per-item limit, or total
cap.
Statutes and sources
- 14 V.S.A. chapter 1 — complete current will-creation, execution, witness,
and revocation scheme, with no general personal-property-memorandum section.
Vermont Legislature: http://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/fullchapter/14/001
(accessed 2026-08-11). - 14 V.S.A. chapter 3 — complete current probate-of-wills scheme, with no
special memorandum filing or proof route. Vermont Legislature:
http://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/fullchapter/14/003 (accessed
2026-08-11). - 14 V.S.A. § 5 — writing, testator signature, and two-witness execution
requirements. Vermont Legislature:
http://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/fullchapter/14/001 (accessed
2026-08-11). - 14 V.S.A. § 11 — subsequent-will revocation and replace-or-supplement
presumptions. Vermont Legislature:
http://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/fullchapter/14/001 (accessed
2026-08-11).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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