Vermont Purchase and Sale Agreement (Trustee Seller)

This fillable Vermont purchase and sale agreement prepares a real estate sale in which the record owner is a trustee. The contract recites the fiduciary capacity on its face: one trustee signature, a capacity line naming the trust and its date, and a built-in promise to deliver a certification of trust before closing, so the authority question is addressed from the first page.

A contract that carries the trustee capacity

The seller entry recites the trustee by name together with the trust and its date, and the operative text states that the seller holds title as trustee and contracts solely in that fiduciary capacity, not individually. The signature page repeats the arrangement: a single seller signature line marked for the trustee, a printed name, and a capacity line that mirrors the seller section. Two ownership patterns present this configuration most often in Vermont land records: a settlor who deeded a home into a revocable living trust and later sells it, and a successor trustee selling trust real estate after the settlor's death. The form recites exactly one trustee as seller and up to two buyers; jointly acting cotrustees, probate sales by a personal representative, and owners selling in a personal capacity each present a different execution pattern from the one this contract recites.

The trustee provisions rest on the Vermont Trust Code. 14A V.S.A. Section 816 authorizes a trustee to sell trust property at public or private sale and to sign the contracts that carry out that power, and 14A V.S.A. Section 1013 supplies the certification of trust, a sworn statement of the existence of the trust, the identity of the trustee, and the trustee's powers that the statute makes usable as evidence of authority to convey real property. The agreement obligates the trustee to deliver that certification, or the trust instrument excerpts the statute describes, on or before closing.

Vermont disclosures written into the agreement

Vermont directs flood disclosure to the contract stage, and this agreement carries it as numbered contract content rather than a loose attachment. Tracking 27 V.S.A. Section 380, as amended effective September 1, 2025, the flood section records delivery of the FEMA flood insurance rate map or notice that no map is available, any flooding or flood-related damage while the seller possessed the property, and any flood insurance the seller maintains or is required to maintain. A companion section records the class 4 highway and legal trail status addressed by 27 V.S.A. Section 617, and the dwelling section obligates the seller of a single-family home to deliver the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms certification of 9 V.S.A. Section 2883 at the closing table. Lead hazard materials for pre-1978 housing and the Department of Health water supply materials for properties outside a public water system travel under their own statutes as separate deliveries, prepared separately and not included in this package.

From signed contract to recorded deed

Under the Vermont Statute of Frauds, 12 V.S.A. Section 181(5), a land sale contract is enforced against a party only on a signed writing, and authorization to sign for another person must itself be in writing, a rule with real bite in fiduciary transactions. The agreement is signed by both parties without a notary and stays with them; it is never recorded. Title moves at closing through the deed the trustee executes and acknowledges under 27 V.S.A. Section 341, recorded with the clerk of the town where the land lies. The contract allocates the closing-stage taxes the way the Vermont statutes run them: the buyer pays the property transfer tax and clean water surcharge and files the transfer tax return the town clerk requires before recording the deed, the seller bears any land gains tax, and when the seller is a nonresident of Vermont, a definition that expressly includes a nonresident trust under 32 V.S.A. Section 5847, the buyer withholds 2.5 percent of the consideration for the Department of Taxes unless a residency certificate or a certificate from the Commissioner changes the figure. A marketable title standard with a 30 day notice and cure period, a financing contingency, an inspection contingency, risk of loss terms, and a liquidated damages allocation of the deposit complete the contract.

The download includes the fillable blank agreement, a completed example showing a Windsor County sale by the trustee of a revocable living trust, and a plain-language guide that walks through every section and statute named above. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.