2017 Vermont Statutes
Title 14 - Decedents' Estates and Fiduciary Relations
Chapter 77 - Decrees Of Distribution Or Partition Of Estates
§ 1721 Distribution; court to order; persons entitled to shares may recover

§ 1721. Distribution; court to order; persons entitled to shares may recover

(a) After payment of the debts, funeral charges and expenses of administration and after the allowance made for the maintenance of the family of the deceased and for the support of his or her children under seven years of age and after the assignment of the spouse of his her interest in the real estate and of his or her share in the personal estate, or when sufficient effects are reserved in the hands of the executor or administrator for the above purposes, the probate division of the superior court shall assign the residue of the estate to the persons entitled to the same.

(b) In its order the court shall name the persons and proportions or parts to which each is entitled, and such persons may demand and recover their respective shares from the executor or administrator or any other person having the same in his possession. The court may decline to make such distribution until suitable gravestones are erected at the grave of the deceased, if buried in this state, or the court may appropriate sufficient funds to supply such gravestones. The court may provide for the care of the burial lot of the deceased as hereinafter provided, before making such distribution.

(c) On final settlement of a solvent estate, the probate division of the superior court may set aside funds of such estate not to exceed $500.00 for the perpetual care of the burial lot of the deceased, and may order that the funds shall be kept in trust for the purpose of this subsection. If the burial lot of the deceased is in the cemetery of an incorporated cemetery association, the funds shall be deposited with such association. (Amended 1989, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 8; 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 238a, eff. Feb. 1, 2011.)