Vermont Discharge of Mortgage (MERS)

When a Vermont home loan is paid off, the instrument that clears the land records is often signed not by the lender but by Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. This form prepares that instrument: a Vermont discharge of mortgage by separate instrument under 27 V.S.A. Section 463, set up for MERS as the mortgagee of record, signing through a certifying officer.

The certification Vermont law prescribes

Vermont's separate-instrument discharge statute supplies its own language. Under Section 463(a), the instrument is substantially in the 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 was recorded. This form carries that certification with the identification blanks in the statutory order, then adds express release language covering the interest of the mortgagee of record. Section 463(b) states the consequence: once the satisfaction is acknowledged before a notary public and recorded, it discharges the mortgage and bars actions brought on it. A satisfaction of mortgage, a mortgage release, and a discharge of mortgage are the same instrument under different names; Vermont's statute calls it a discharge.

Why MERS signs, and how the form shows it

A large share of residential mortgages name Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. as the mortgagee of record, acting solely as nominee for the lender and the lender's successors and assigns. Once MERS holds the mortgage of record, sales of the loan and transfers of servicing move across the MERS registry without recorded assignments, so at payoff the discharge comes from MERS even when the original lender is long out of the picture. Vermont Title Standard 18.5 addresses this pattern directly: when MERS is the record holder, the mortgage is discharged only by MERS, acting itself or through a member's certifying officer. The form is built around the details a Vermont title examiner reads in such a discharge. It identifies MERS as mortgagee of record and nominee, carries entries for the MERS address, the 18-digit MIN (Mortgage Identification Number), and the servicer loan number, collects the certifying officer's office title under the signature line, and includes an assignment reference section for a mortgage that reached MERS by recorded assignment rather than in the original security instrument.

Recorded with the town clerk, town by town

Vermont records land instruments by town and city rather than by county, so the discharge goes to the clerk of the municipality whose land records hold the mortgage, at the statewide fee of $15.00 per page under 32 V.S.A. Section 1671. A discharge is not a deed transferring title, so no Vermont property transfer tax return accompanies it. A mortgage recorded in more than one town, as happens where a parcel spans a town line, is discharged in every town where it appears; the form's release language speaks to each municipality where the mortgage is of record. Vermont law also puts time pressure behind the paperwork: under 27 V.S.A. Section 464, the mortgagee of record has 30 days after full performance to execute and deliver a complete discharge, with statutory damages of $25.00 per day, up to $5,000.00, for a holder or servicer that lets the deadline pass.

One mortgage, satisfied in full

The form describes the complete satisfaction of one recorded mortgage. It is not set up as a partial release of a portion of the mortgaged land, and it is not set up for a lender or servicer that holds the mortgage of record in its own name without MERS; those situations follow different record chains. The acknowledgment certificate is completed for one signer, the certifying officer, and its name line carries the officer's representative capacity, in the style of an assistant secretary of MERS. The venue lines reflect where the officer actually appears before the notary, which for servicer offices is commonly outside Vermont; an out-of-state certificate records in a Vermont town without difficulty.

The package delivers three items: the blank discharge as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the entire instrument filled in for a realistic Vermont payoff recorded in the Colchester land records, and a plain-language guide that walks through every section, the signing formalities, and town-by-town recording. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.