Vermont Gift Deed (Trustee Grantee)

This Vermont gift deed conveys real property for no monetary consideration to a grantee who takes title as trustee of a named trust. The form recites one grantor, one trustee grantee identified together with the trust's name and the date of the trust instrument, and a gift recital in place of a purchase price, so a donative transfer into a trust reads on the record as exactly what it is.

Title Vests in a Trustee, Not in an Individual

The grantee section carries three entries: the trustee's name followed by the word Trustee with a mailing address, the trust's full name, and the date of the trust instrument. The conveyance runs to the grantee as trustee and not individually, and to the trustee's successors in trust, so a later change in the office of trustee is governed by the trust instrument rather than by a new deed from the original parties. Vermont law supports this architecture directly: 27 V.S.A. Section 303 grounds an express trust concerning lands in a signed written instrument, and 27 V.S.A. Section 2 excludes conveyances to trusts from the state's tenancy in common default. Patterns that present this configuration in Vermont land records include a parent moving a home, camp, or woodlot into an irrevocable family trust, an owner funding a trust administered by an adult child or a professional trustee, and a donor placing land in trust for charitable purposes. The form recites exactly one grantor and one trustee grantee; a deed from two co-owners, or a deed to a grantee taking in a personal capacity, presents a different architecture than this form carries.

A Gift Recital Instead of a Purchase Price

A Vermont deed carries exactly the covenants it states, because no Vermont statute implies covenants of title from an operative word. This deed of gift states none: it conveys all of the grantor's right, title, and interest, for no monetary consideration and in consideration of love and affection, expressly without covenant or warranty of title, and subject to matters of record. The operative words, gives, grants, conveys, and confirms, perform the conveyance that 27 V.S.A. Sections 301 and 341 contemplate: a deed signed by the grantor, acknowledged before a notary public, and recorded at length with the clerk of the municipality where the land lies.

One Grantor, a Joining Spouse Line, Two Certificates

One grantor signs. Where the property includes the homestead of a married grantor, 27 V.S.A. Section 141 makes a conveyance inoperative as to the homestead unless the spouse joins in the execution and acknowledgment, so the form carries a labeled joining spouse signature line; where no joinder applies, that block remains blank. The form carries a separate acknowledgment certificate for each signer, so the grantor and a joining spouse may acknowledge on different dates, before different notaries, or in different states. No subscribing witnesses appear on a Vermont deed, and printed name lines under the signatures satisfy the name under signature statute, 32 V.S.A. Section 1405.

Recording With the Town Clerk and the Transfer Tax Return

Vermont records deeds with the clerk of the town or city where the land lies; there is no county recording system. The statewide fee is $15.00 per page, plus $15.00 for filing the Vermont Property Transfer Tax Return, and under 32 V.S.A. Section 9608 the clerk cannot record a deed without the completed return and its Act 250 certificate, even for an exempt transfer. Because 32 V.S.A. Section 9601(6) measures a gift at the fair market value of the property transferred, the return decides the money question: Section 9603(5) exempts transfers without actual consideration in trust to the extent of the benefit to the donor or listed close relations, Section 9603(6) exempts transfers with no change in beneficial ownership, and a gift into a trust outside those subdivisions is taxed on fair market value, with the clean water surcharge added. The guide walks through these filings alongside every numbered section of the form.

The package contains the gift deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the deed filled in for a realistic Windsor County fact pattern, and a plain language guide covering each blank, the signing formalities, and municipal recording. A deed of gift, sometimes searched as a gift deed to a trust or a deed transferring property into a family trust, works as both a conveyance and a record of donative intent; these materials describe how Vermont law treats it, and they are informational only, not legal advice.