Vermont Discharge of Mortgage (Individual Trustee)

A Vermont mortgage held by one person as trustee of a trust comes out of the land records with a single signature, and that signature is made in a fiduciary capacity. This Vermont Discharge of Mortgage (Individual Trustee) prepares the separate satisfaction instrument described in 27 V.S.A. Section 463 for a mortgage held of record by an individual trustee: the holder section recites the trustee's name with the trust's name and date, and the same capacity carries through the certificate of satisfaction, the signature block, and the notary's certificate.

A satisfaction certificate the statute drafts

Vermont writes the words of a mortgage satisfaction into the statute itself. Section 463 provides that a mortgage may be discharged by an acknowledgment of satisfaction executed by the mortgagee, substantially in a short statutory form: a certification that the described mortgage is paid in full and satisfied, identifying the mortgagor, the mortgagee, the date of the mortgage, and the book and page of the town land records where it is recorded. This form follows that pattern, collecting the parties, the recording data, and the property in numbered sections and performing the certification and the release of the mortgage lien in the statute's own words. Once the satisfaction is acknowledged before a notary public and recorded, Section 463(b) provides that it discharges the mortgage and bars actions brought on it.

The trustee signs, and the capacity rides every block

The form recites exactly one holder: an individual serving as trustee, named in the style Margaret H. Olsen, Trustee of the Olsen Family Revocable Trust under agreement dated June 4, 2015. Seller-financed sales in which a family trust took the purchase money mortgage, private loans made through a revocable living trust, and mortgages assigned to a trustee during estate planning present the pattern this discharge recites. An assignments section identifies the recorded assignment where the trustee acquired the mortgage from another holder, so the discharge connects to the record chain, and Vermont law backs the fiduciary architecture: 27 V.S.A. Section 351 treats a grant naming a trust as a grant to its trustee, and a discharge executed by the authorized trustee operates as a discharge by the named holder.

The signature line, the printed name, and the notary certificate all carry the same trustee capacity, and the operative section states that the holder signs as trustee and not individually. A mortgage held by two cotrustees, by a bank or company, or by an individual in a personal capacity presents a different execution pattern; this form is set up as a single fiduciary signature instrument.

Thirty days, then a running meter

Vermont attaches deadlines to a paid-off mortgage. Under 27 V.S.A. Section 464, the mortgagee provides a written payoff statement within five business days of a written request, and within 30 days after full performance of the conditions of the mortgage, the mortgagee of record executes and delivers a valid and complete discharge, together with any instrument necessary to establish the mortgagee's record ownership and authority. A holder who misses the deadline owes statutory damages of $25.00 per day, up to $5,000.00, plus consequential damages, punitive damages, costs, and reasonable attorney's fees where an aggrieved party substantially prevails. A trustee holding a private mortgage sits under the same duty as an institutional lender, which is why paid-off private mortgages come off the record promptly in Vermont practice.

Recorded in the town, not the county

Vermont land records live with town and city clerks rather than county recorders, so a mortgage release is recorded where the mortgage is recorded: the same town's land records, identified in this form by book, page, and town name. The statewide recording fee is $15.00 per page, and a discharge carries no property transfer tax return, since it transfers no title by deed. A mortgage recorded in more than one town, as with land lying across a town line, appears in each town's records, and title practice looks for the discharge in each of them.

The download includes the discharge of mortgage as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the trustee capacity, the satisfaction certificate, and the notary block filled in for a realistic Vermont fact pattern, and a plain language guide that walks through every numbered section and the recording steps. The materials are informational and are not legal advice; a Vermont attorney can address how the discharge statutes apply to a particular mortgage or trust.