Washington County Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) Form
Last validated September 15, 2026 by our Forms Development TeamFormatted for recording in Washington County, for property anywhere in the county: rural and unincorporated areas as well as Adamant, Barre, Cabot, Calais, East Barre, East Calais, East Montpelier, Graniteville and 15 more.
- 3 documents included
- Immediate PDF download
- Formatting guarantee
Washington 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.
Washington County Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) Guide
Line by line guide explaining every blank on the Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) form.
Washington 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 Washington County documents included at no extra charge:
Where to Record Your Documents
City of Barre: Clerk
Barre, Vermont 05641
Hours: Mo-Fr 7:30 to 4:30
Phone: (802) 476-0242
Town of Barre: Clerk
Websterville, Vermont 05678
Hours: Mo-Fr 8:00 to 4:30
Phone: (802) 479-9391/9392
Town Clerk of Berlin
Berlin, Vermont 05602
Hours: Mo-Th 8:30 to 3:30
Phone: (802) 229-9298
Town Clerk of Cabot
Cabot, Vermont 05647
Hours: Mo-Th 9:00 to 5:00
Phone: (802) 563-2279
Town Clerk of Calais
East Calais, Vermont 05650
Hours: Mo-Th 8:00 to 4:00
Phone: (802) 456-8720
Town Clerk of Duxbury
Duxbury, Vermont 05676
Hours: Tu-Fr 7:30 to 3:30
Phone: (802) 244-6660
Clerk of East Montpelier
East Montpelier, Vermont 05651-0157
Hours: Mo-Th 9:00 to 5:00; Fr 9:00 to noon
Phone: (802) 223-3313 x201
Town Clerk of Fayston
North Fayston, Vermont 05660
Hours: Mo-Th 9:00 to 3:30 & Fr 9:00 to 3:00
Phone: (802) 496-2454 x21
Town Clerk of Marshfield
Marshfield, Vermont 05658
Hours: Tu-Fr 8:00 to 12:00 & 12:30 to 4:00
Phone: (802) 426-3305
Town Clerk of Middlesex
Middlesex, Vermont 05602
Hours: Mo-Th 8:30 to 4:30
Phone: (802) 223-5915
City of Montpelier: Clerk
Montpelier, Vermont 05602
Hours: Mo-Fr 8:00 to 4:30
Phone: (802) 223-9500
Town Clerk of Moretown
Waterbury, Vermont 05676
Hours: Mo-Fr 7:00 to 2:45
Phone: (802) 882-8218
Town Clerk of Northfield
Northfield, Vermont 05663
Hours: Mo-Fr 8:00 to 4:30
Phone: (802) 485-5421
Town of Plainfield
Plainfield, Vermont 05667
Hours: Mo, We, Fr 7:30 to 12:00 & 12:30 to 4:00
Phone: (802) 454-8461
Town Clerk of Roxbury
Roxbury, Vermont 05669
Hours: Tu-Fr 9:00 to 12:00 & 1:00 to 4:00
Phone: (802) 485-7840
Town Clerk of Waitsfield
Waitsfield, Vermont 05673
Hours: Mo-Fr 8:00 to 4:30
Phone: (802) 496-2218
Town Clerk of Warren
Warren, Vermont 05674
Hours: Mo-Fr 9:00 to 4:30
Phone: (802) 496-2709 x21
Town Clerk of Waterbury
Waterbury, Vermont 05676
Hours: Mo-Fr 8:00 to 4:30
Phone: (802) 244-8447
Town Clerk of Woodbury
Woodbury, Vermont 05681
Hours: Mo-Th 9:00 to 1:00 & Mo 6:00 to 8:00
Phone: (802) 456-7051
Town Clerk of Worcester
Worcester, Vermont 05682
Hours: Mo 9:00 to 12:00; Tu-Th 9:00 to 3:00; We to 5:00
Phone: (802) 223-6942
Recording Tips for Washington County:
- Bring your driver's license or state-issued photo ID
- Ensure all signatures are in blue or black ink
- Documents must be on 8.5 x 11 inch white paper
- Double-check legal descriptions match your existing deed
- Verify all names are spelled correctly before recording
Cities and Jurisdictions in Washington County
Properties in any of these areas use Washington County forms:
- Adamant
- Barre
- Cabot
- Calais
- East Barre
- East Calais
- East Montpelier
- Graniteville
- Marshfield
- Montpelier
- Moretown
- North Montpelier
- Northfield
- Northfield Falls
- Plainfield
- South Barre
- Waitsfield
- Warren
- Waterbury
- Waterbury Center
- Websterville
- Woodbury
- Worcester
Hours, fees, requirements, and more for Washington County
How do I get my forms?
Forms are available for immediate download after payment. The Washington 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 Washington County?
Yes. Our form blanks are guaranteed to meet or exceed the applicable formatting requirements used for recording in Washington 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 Washington 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. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader is recommended, and most PDF apps also work. 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 Washington County?
Recording fees in Washington County vary. Contact the recorder's office at (802) 476-0242 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 Washington County to use these forms. Documents should be recorded at the county recording office listed above.
This Gift Deed (Reserving Life Estate) meets all recording requirements specific to Washington County.
Our Promise
The documents you receive here are guaranteed to meet or exceed the applicable Washington 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 Washington 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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Process was easy. The instructions for TOD and a sample completed form was very helpful. E-recording of deed saved a trip to the county building and well worth the very reasonable charge.
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Diane W. 3 out of 5 stars
The forms were immediately available for download, which was nice. However, I was not impressed by the lack of several features: 1) there was no way to edit set text in the form, such as where it says you should consult an attorney. That is not necessary for recording the deed and I wanted to deleted it, but could not. 2) Also, under the "Notes" section, there is a limited area to write; I tried adding a fuller explanation of something, but the form would not accept or include it when I printed the final document. The form may do the job, but it's not very sophisticated or elegant.
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