You’ve just lost a loved one suddenly, and if passing without a will, you and your family are left with legal matters that are often confusing and stressful. In the state of Vermont, intestacy law is in place to divide any part of a decedent’s estate that is not effectively disposed by will, which passes to the decedent’s heirs, as modified by the decedent’s will.

Read the following to understand intestacy laws in Vermont:

• After all payments of debts, funeral charges and expenses, the surviving spouse shall receive the entire estate as long as all of the descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse may receive the decedent’s furniture and furnishings, terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, and vehicles, as long as the descendants of the decedent do not object.
• In the event that one or more surviving descendants of the decedent who are not related to the spouse, and they are not excluded by the will, the surviving spouse shall receive one half of the estate.

• If there is no surviving spouse, the estate goes to the parents of the decedent equally.
• The estate is divided equally to the decedents siblings and the descendants of any deceased siblings.
• One half of the intestate estate goes to the decedent’s paternal grandparents equally if they both survive.
• The estate is divided in equal shares to the next of kin to equal degree.

To learn more about intestacy law, visit www.leg.state.vt.us.

For more information on intestacy laws in Vermont, contact the experts at Meyerson and O’Neill Law Firm today at 877-373-8059.