Vermont Disclaimer of Interest (Parent for Minor Child)

One signature line appears on this instrument, and it does not belong to the person whose inheritance is at stake. This Vermont Disclaimer of Interest is set up for a minor child to whom Vermont real estate would otherwise pass, with a parent signing the refusal on the child's behalf under the Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act, 14 V.S.A. Chapter 83.

A refusal, not a transfer

A disclaimer, sometimes called a renunciation, is the formal refusal to accept property that a will, the intestacy statutes, or a nonprobate arrangement would otherwise deliver. Under 14 V.S.A. Section 1954, the disclaimed interest devolves as if the disclaimant had died before the decedent, and the disclaimer relates back to the date of death, so the interest travels to the next taker the will or the intestacy statutes name without ever vesting in the child. The statute sets a firm calendar: for property passing by will or intestacy, the written disclaimer is delivered within nine months of the death, in person or by registered or certified mail, to the estate's personal representative, the holder of legal title, or the person entitled to the property in the event of disclaimer, with a copy filed in the Probate Division where the estate is being administered. When the disclaimed interest includes real estate, Section 1952(e) adds one more step: a copy of the disclaimer is recorded in the land records of the town where the property is located, which is exactly the recording this form is built to survive.

The parent's signature and the authority section

The form recites one minor disclaimant and one signing parent; the child never signs. Section 1951 extends the right to disclaim to the representative of a protected person, and the form pairs that language with a dedicated authority section in which the parent states the capacity relied on, including any Probate Division appointment or order identified by date and docket. The completed example shows the fullest version of that record: a parent who has also been appointed the child's financial guardian by the Probate Division, the configuration that gives a later title examiner the least to question. The included guide describes the statutory landscape behind that entry, including what Chapter 83 says, and does not say, about a parent acting without a court appointment. An adult heir refusing a share, or an executor disclaiming for an estate, presents a different signature pattern from the one this form recites.

A deadline that runs on the estate's clock

Section 1952 states its nine-month periods without any allowance for the disclaimant's age, so the window for a child's disclaimer runs on the same calendar as an adult's. Section 1955 closes the door early where the interest has already been accepted, assigned, encumbered, or sold at judicial sale, and once a disclaimer is effective, Section 1954 makes it binding on the disclaimant and everyone claiming through the disclaimant. Families using a disclaimer to redirect an inheritance confirm where the interest actually lands, because the instrument refuses property; it does not steer it.

Built for Vermont's town land records

Vermont records land documents with town and city clerks rather than county offices, at the statewide fee of $15.00 per page under 32 V.S.A. Section 1671. The form reserves the top of its first page for the clerk's recording information, keeps its text within the statutory page definition, and carries an acknowledgment certificate in the representative-capacity short form of 26 V.S.A. Section 5368(2), reciting that the record was acknowledged by the parent as the stated type of authority of the named minor, with printed-name and commission-number lines for the notary. The guide walks through the delivery steps, the probate filing, and the town recording in order, and describes how the transfer tax return question for a recorded disclaimer is resolved at the town clerk's counter.

The download includes the disclaimer of interest as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing every entry filled in for a realistic Middlebury fact pattern, and a plain-language guide that explains each section, the statutory deadlines, and the recording process. The materials are informational and are not legal advice; an attorney can weigh how Chapter 83 applies to a particular estate.