Franklin County Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) Form
Last validated July 16, 2026 by our Forms Development Team
Franklin County Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) Form
Fill in the blank Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) form formatted to comply with all Vermont recording and content requirements.
Franklin County Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) Guide
Line by line guide explaining every blank on the Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) form.
Franklin County Completed Example of the Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) Document
Example of a properly completed Vermont Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) document for reference.
All 3 documents above included • One-time purchase • No recurring fees
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Additional Vermont and Franklin County documents included at no extra charge:
Where to Record Your Documents
Town Clerk of Bakersfield
Bakersfield, Vermont 05441
Hours: M - F 9:00 to 12:00 & 7:00 to 8:00
Phone: (802) 827-4495
Town Clerk of Berkshire
Enosburgh, Vermont 05450
Hours: M & Tu 8-12, 1-5; W & Th 9-12, 1-4
Phone: (802) 933-2335
Town Clerk of Enosburgh
Enosburgh Falls, Vermont 05450
Hours: M - F 8:00 to 3:30
Phone: (802) 933-4421
Town Clerk of Fairfax
Fairfax, Vermont 05454
Hours: M - F 9:00 to 4:00; 1st & 3rd Mon 6:00 to 8:00
Phone: (802) 849-6111
Town Clerk of Fairfield
Fairfield, Vermont 05455
Hours: M, Tu, Th, F 8:00 to 3:00; W 10:30 to 5:30
Phone: (802) 827-3261 x1
Town Clerk of Fletcher
Cambridge, Vermont 05444
Hours: M 8 - 3:30 & 6:30 - 8:30; Tu - Th 8 to 3:30
Phone: (802) 849-6616
Town Clerk of Franklin
Franklin, Vermont 05457
Hours: M, Tu, F 8:30 to 3:30; W 8:30 to noon; Th 8:30 to 6:00
Phone: (802) 285-2101
Town Clerk of Georgia
St. Albans, Vermont 05478
Hours: M-F 8:00 - 4:00
Phone: (802) 524-3524
Town Clerk of Highgate
Highgate Ctr, Vermont 05459
Hours: M-F 8:30 to 12 & 1:00 to 4:30
Phone: (802) 868-4697 X201
Town Clerk of Montgomery
Montgomery, Vermont 05471
Hours: M 8-12 & 1-6; Tu, Th, F 8-12 & 1-4
Phone: (802) 326-4719
Town Clerk of Richford
Richford, Vermont 05476
Hours: M - Th 8:00 - 5:00; F 8:00 - noon
Phone: (802) 848-7751 x3
City of St. Albans Clerk
St. Albans, Vermont 05478-0867
Hours: M-F 7:30 - 4:30; last Sat 9:00 - 12:00
Phone: (802) 524-1501 x264
Town of St. Albans Clerk
St. Albans Bay, Vermont 05481
Hours: M-F 8:00 - 4:00
Phone: (802) 524-2415
Town Clerk of Sheldon
Sheldon, Vermont 05483
Hours: M 8:00 to 6:00 & Tu-F 8:00 to 3:00
Phone: (802) 933-2524 x3
Town Clerk of Swanton
Swanton, Vermont 05488
Hours: M-F 7:00 to 5:00
Phone: (802) 868-4421
Recording Tips for Franklin County:
- Ask if they accept credit cards - many offices are cash/check only
- Check that your notary's commission hasn't expired
- Make copies of your documents before recording - keep originals safe
- Leave recording info boxes blank - the office fills these
- Ask about their eRecording option for future transactions
Cities and Jurisdictions in Franklin County
Properties in any of these areas use Franklin County forms:
- Bakersfield
- East Berkshire
- East Fairfield
- Enosburg Falls
- Fairfield
- Franklin
- Highgate Center
- Highgate Springs
- Montgomery
- Montgomery Center
- Richford
- Saint Albans
- Saint Albans Bay
- Sheldon
- Sheldon Springs
- Swanton
Hours, fees, requirements, and more for Franklin County
How do I get my forms?
Forms are available for immediate download after payment. The Franklin County forms will be in your account ready to download to your computer. An account is created for you during checkout if you don't have one. Forms are NOT emailed.
Are these forms guaranteed to be recordable in Franklin County?
Yes. Our form blanks are guaranteed to meet or exceed the applicable formatting requirements used for recording in Franklin County, including margin requirements, font requirements, and other layout standards. This guarantee applies to formatting, not to the legal sufficiency of information entered by the user or the suitability of a form for a particular transaction.
Can I reuse these forms?
Yes. You can reuse the forms for your personal use. For example, if you have multiple properties in Franklin County you only need to order once.
What do I need to use these forms?
The forms are PDFs that you fill out on your computer. You'll need Adobe Reader (free software that most computers already have). You do NOT enter your property information online - you download the blank forms and complete them privately on your own computer.
Are there any recurring fees?
No. This is a one-time purchase. Nothing to cancel, no memberships, no recurring fees.
How much does it cost to record in Franklin County?
Recording fees in Franklin County vary. Contact the recorder's office at (802) 827-4495 for current fees.
Questions answered? Let's get started!
A Vermont gift deed reserving a life estate passes the family home, camp, or land to the next generation now, while the giver keeps the legal right to live there for life. This form prepares that deed for one Vermont owner: the grantor conveys the property as a gift, reserves a common-law life estate, and the named grantee takes a vested remainder that ripens into full ownership, outside probate, when the life estate ends at the grantor's death.
A gift now, possession later
The deed divides ownership along a timeline. From delivery, the grantor holds a life estate: the exclusive right to occupy and use the property, and to its rents and income, for the rest of the grantor's natural life. The grantee holds the remainder from the same moment, a present property interest that waits for possession. At the grantor's death the life estate simply ends, and the grantee holds the property outright without probate administration of the parcel. Because the transfer is donative, the deed recites love and affection rather than a purchase price, and it states that it conveys without covenant or warranty of title, the posture Vermont law leaves to the deed's own text since no statute implies covenants into a Vermont deed.
A vested remainder, not a revocable arrangement
The reservation here is the traditional common-law life estate, and the deed says so on its face: no power is reserved to sell, convey, or mortgage the property without the grantee's joinder, and the instrument is not an enhanced life estate deed under 27 V.S.A. chapter 6, Vermont's statute for reserved-power deeds. The certainty runs in both directions. The grantee's remainder is vested and safe from later changes of heart, and by the same token the grantor cannot take the gift back or deal with the full title alone; a later sale or mortgage of the whole property takes both signatures. The completed example shows the reservation, the gift conveyance, and the statutory references exactly as they read on a finished deed.
Who signs, and the homestead joinder
The form recites one grantor, who signs before a notary public; Vermont requires no witnesses on a deed, and 27 V.S.A. Section 341 makes the notarial acknowledgment and town recording the operative formalities. A parent conveying the home place to a child while continuing to live in it, or an owner passing a woodlot or camp to family with continued lifetime use, presents the single-owner pattern this deed recites. The grantee section accepts one or more grantees together with the co-ownership form they take, and the guide walks through Vermont's forms, from tenancy in common to joint tenancy and tenancy by the entirety. Because a married owner's homestead moves only with the spouse's joinder under 27 V.S.A. Section 141, the form carries a labeled spouse joinder signature block, and it carries a separate acknowledgment certificate for each signer on the Vermont statutory short form, so the grantor and a joining spouse may acknowledge on different dates or before different notaries.
Recording in the town, with the transfer tax return
Vermont records land instruments town by town, not by county, so the deed goes to the clerk of the town or city where the land lies, at fifteen dollars per page. Until recorded, a Vermont deed holds the estate only against the grantor and the grantor's heirs, so recording is what secures the gift against everyone else. One filing controls the counter: a completed Vermont Property Transfer Tax Return, Form PTT-172, accompanies the deed, and the town clerk cannot record without it. For a gift, the tax value is fair market value rather than the recited consideration, and Vermont exempts no-consideration transfers between spouses, parent and child or the child's spouse, and grandparent and grandchild or the grandchild's spouse; the exemption is claimed right on the return. The guide's recording section walks through the return, the Act 250 certificate that accompanies it, and the survey reference rule that reaches deeds citing a recorded plat.
The download includes the gift deed as a fillable blank PDF, a completed example that presents the whole deed prepared for a realistic Vermont fact pattern, and a plain-language guide explaining every numbered section, the signing formalities, and the recording steps. The materials are informational and are not legal advice; a Vermont attorney can apply these rules to a specific title or estate plan.
Important: Your property must be located in Franklin County to use these forms. Documents should be recorded at the office below.
This Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) meets all recording requirements specific to Franklin County.
Our Promise
The documents you receive here are guaranteed to meet or exceed the applicable Franklin County recording format requirements. If there is a rejection caused by our formatting, we will correct the issue or refund your payment. This guarantee applies to document formatting only and does not extend to information entered by the user, the selection of the form, or the legal effect of the completed document.
Save Time and Money
Get your Franklin County Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) form done right the first time with Deeds.com Uniform Conveyancing Blanks. At Deeds.com, we understand that your time and money are valuable resources, and we don't want you to face a penalty fee or rejection imposed by a county recorder for submitting nonstandard documents. We constantly review and update our forms to meet rapidly changing state and county recording requirements for roughly 3,500 counties and local jurisdictions.
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