Vermont Gift Deed (Married Grantor with Non-Owner Spouse Joinder)

This Vermont gift deed is built for a specific signing pattern: a married grantor who owns the property alone conveys it as a gift, and the grantor's spouse, who is not on the title, signs and acknowledges the deed as a joining spouse. One person conveys, two people sign. The deed of gift recites love and affection as the consideration, carries express Vermont warranty covenants, and pairs the grantor's signature block with a labeled joinder block for the non-owner spouse.

One Owner Conveys, Two Spouses Sign

The second signature is not ceremony. Under 27 V.S.A. Section 141, a homestead, or an interest in a homestead, is not conveyed by a married owner unless the owner's spouse joins in the execution and acknowledgment of the conveyance, and a conveyance without that joinder is inoperative as to the homestead. 27 V.S.A. Section 349 adds that homestead property is not conveyed to anyone other than the owner's spouse unless the spouse joins in the conveyance. This form's joinder section does that work in operative words: the joining spouse, identified in the deed as holding no record ownership interest, joins in the execution and acknowledgment and releases to the grantee all homestead rights and any other interest in the property, while making no covenant of title. Where the gifted parcel is not the couple's homestead, the same joinder operates as a release of whatever interest the spouse may hold, the belt-and-suspenders showing Vermont title practice looks for on a married owner's deed.

A Deed of Gift with Vermont Covenants

Vermont has no general statutory deed form, so a Vermont deed states its own operative words and covenants. This gift deed conveys with the customary words, gives, grants, conveys, and confirms, and carries the express covenants Vermont warranty practice uses: sole ownership, good right and title to convey, freedom from every encumbrance except as stated, and a promise to warrant and defend the property against the lawful claims of all persons. The consideration section declares the gift character, love and affection with no monetary consideration, so the record shows on its face why no price appears. The form collects the town and county where the land lies, the legal description from the vesting deed, a survey reference line serving the recording condition in 27 V.S.A. Section 341(b), the source of title by book and page, and the encumbrances the covenants run subject to.

The Tax Return That Travels with a Vermont Gift

Vermont measures a gift by fair market value: under 32 V.S.A. Section 9601(6), the value of a gift, or of a transfer for nominal consideration, is the fair market value of the property transferred. Exemptions in 32 V.S.A. Section 9603 cover certain transfers without consideration between family members, and the exemption is claimed by number on the Vermont Property Transfer Tax Return, Form PTT-172, which is prepared separately and is not included in this package. Under 32 V.S.A. Section 9608, the town clerk cannot record a deed unless the completed return accompanies it, tax due or not, so the return is part of the recording package for every family gift.

Recorded in the Town, Not the County

Vermont records land instruments by municipality. The signed and acknowledged deed goes to the clerk of the town or city where the property is located, at the statewide fee of $15.00 per page plus $15.00 for filing the transfer tax return under 32 V.S.A. Section 1671. Each signer acknowledges before a notary public, the execution formality 27 V.S.A. Section 341(a) states for Vermont deeds, and the form carries an acknowledgment certificate for each signer, so the grantor and the joining spouse may appear before different notaries on different dates, in or outside Vermont. Printed name lines under both signatures satisfy the name-under-signature rule of 32 V.S.A. Section 1405.

What the Download Contains

The package contains the gift deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the entire document filled in for a Middlebury, Addison County fact pattern, and a plain language guide that walks through every numbered section, the two-signer notarization, and the recording and transfer tax steps. The materials describe Vermont law in general terms and are not legal advice.