Vermont Disclaimer of Interest

One person, one signature, one recorded refusal: this form prepares a disclaimer of an interest in Vermont real property by a single disclaimant, an heir or beneficiary declining what would otherwise pass to them. It is drafted under the Vermont Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act, 14 V.S.A. chapter 129, the statute that governs a Vermont disclaimer of interest, also searched as a renunciation of inheritance or an estate disclaimer.

A refusal the law treats as never accepted

A disclaimer is not a gift from the heir to the next taker. Under 14 V.S.A. Section 4105(g), a disclaimer made under chapter 129 is not a transfer, assignment, or release; the disclaimed interest passes under Section 4106 as if the disclaimant had died immediately before the time of distribution, unless the will or other creating instrument says where a disclaimed interest goes. The refusal therefore reroutes the inheritance by operation of law rather than by conveyance, a distinction that matters for how the record reads and for the federal tax treatment of a qualified disclaimer under Section 2518 of the Internal Revenue Code, which the form's optional special provisions section can reference.

Vermont rewrote its disclaimer law in 2026

The former Vermont disclaimer statute, 14 V.S.A. chapter 83, with its nine month delivery deadline, was repealed in June 2026, and chapter 129 took its place. The new chapter states no fixed state law deadline; instead, Section 4113 bars a disclaimer once the disclaimant accepts the interest, transfers or encumbers it, contracts to do so, signs a written waiver, or a judicial sale occurs. Once delivered or filed, a disclaimer is irrevocable under Section 4105(f). This package is drafted for the current chapter, and its declaration recites the new sections rather than the repealed ones.

One disclaimant, one certificate

The form recites exactly one disclaimant, signing personally, with one signature line and one notary certificate in the Vermont statutory short form. It collects the disclaimant's name and address, the deceased owner and the origin of the interest, the town, legal description, street address, and source of title, the extent of the disclaimer, and optional special provisions, and then performs the refusal in an operative declaration keyed to the statute. A whole or a partial disclaimer fits the same blanks: Section 4105 permits a partial disclaimer expressed as a fraction, percentage, or other interest. The form is not set up as a fiduciary instrument, and a surviving joint tenant disclaiming survivorship rights or an executor disclaiming in a representative capacity presents a different statutory pattern than the individual configuration this form recites.

Delivery, filing, and the town land records

Effectiveness under chapter 129 turns on a signed writing that is delivered or filed as Section 4112 directs, for an inherited interest, to the personal representative of the estate or to the court that would appoint one. Recording is the companion step for real property: Section 4115 permits the disclaimer to be recorded where the transferring instrument is recorded, and Vermont records land documents with the clerk of the town where the property lies, at the statewide fee of 15 dollars per page. A recorded disclaimer lets every later title examiner see why the property passed around the disclaimant.

What is included

The package contains the blank disclaimer as a fillable PDF with a non-recorded instructions page, a completed example showing the entire document filled in for a realistic Chittenden County fact pattern, and a plain language guide that walks through every numbered section, the notarization requirements, and the delivery, filing, and recording steps. The materials describe the form and the governing statutes; they are informational and are not legal advice.