How many witnesses does a will need in Vermont?

A will in Vermont must be signed in front of two witnesses. The witnesses must sign at the same time, in each other's presence and in front of the testator. See Vt. Stat. tit. 14, §1 et seq..

Does a will have to be notarized in Vermont?

No. Notarization is not required for a Vermont will to be valid, but adding a self-proving affidavit (which is notarized) lets the will be admitted to probate without calling the witnesses to testify.

Is a handwritten will valid in Vermont?

No. Vermont does not recognize holographic wills. Every will must be signed in front of witnesses to be valid.

What is the minimum age to make a will in Vermont?

You must be at least 18 years old to make a will in Vermont. A minor emancipated by court order may also make a will (14 V.S.A. §1).

Can I sign my will online in Vermont?

No. Vermont does not currently recognize electronic wills. A will must be signed and witnessed in person on paper to be valid; remote online notarization is allowed for other documents like trusts and powers of attorney.

What documents make up a complete estate plan in Vermont?

A complete estate plan in Vermont usually includes four documents: a Last Will and Testament, a Revocable Living Trust, a Durable Power of Attorney, and a Healthcare Directive. Will.com generates all four together based on your answers.

Estate plan requirements

Vermont

Everything your estate plan needs to be valid in Vermont: execution requirements, the documents we generate, statutory citations, and the exact wording our generators insert.

Requirements at a glance

Document	Witnesses	Notary
Will	2 required	Recommended
Living trust	None required	Recommended
Power of attorney	None required	Required
Healthcare directive	2 required	Not required

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Vermont content last reviewed May 18, 2026.

Will

Vt. Stat. tit. 14, §1 et seq.

Witnesses: 2 required

The testator must sign the will in the presence of two or more credible witnesses, and the witnesses must then attest and subscribe in the presence of the testator and each other. Vermont does not allow the testator to sign privately and acknowledge the signature later, and does not allow the witnesses to sign later within a reasonable time (14 V.S.A. §5(a), as amended by 2017 No. 195 (Adj. Sess.), §1 and 2019 No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), §1, effective April 28, 2020)

Witnesses together: Required

Vermont requires the attesting witnesses to sign in each other's presence; signing within a reasonable time of one another is not sufficient.

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required, but recommended for self-proving affidavit

Holographic will: Not valid

Vermont does not recognize handwritten wills without witnesses

Self-proving affidavit: Available

Allows the will to be admitted to probate without witness testimony

State-specific notes

•COVID-era remote presence was narrow (14 V.S.A. §5(b)): it deemed witnesses to be in the testator's presence only while the Emergency Remote Notarial Acts rules were in effect and only via the self-proving path at §108. Do not generalize that rule beyond that window for new executions.

•Remote online notarization (§5379) requires the notary to hold a special commission endorsement under §5341(d); not every Vermont notary is authorized to perform remote acts.

ViewWitness disqualification / interested-witness rule

Under 14 V.S.A. §10, a witness need not be disinterested for the will to be valid, but any beneficial devise or legacy to a subscribing witness (or to that witness's spouse) is voidable unless two other competent subscribing witnesses sign. A creditor-witness is not disqualified by a will provision directing payment of a debt.

Living Trust

Witnesses: None required

No formal execution requirements beyond settlor signature; notarization strongly recommended when funding real property

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required for the trust document, but needed to transfer real property

State-specific notes

•Vermont extends tenancy-by-the-entirety creditor protection to property the spouses held as tenants by the entirety and then conveyed to their jointly or separately held revocable or irrevocable trusts (14A V.S.A. §505(c), effective April 24, 2025). Five conditions all have to hold: the spouses are married to each other; the property is the spouses' property; the property is held in the trust or has been deeded back out to them as tenants by the entirety; if a single joint trust is used, that trust must be revocable by either spouse acting alone but amendable only by both spouses acting together; and either both spouses are current beneficiaries of one joint trust that holds the entire property, or each spouse is a current beneficiary of a separate trust and the two separate trusts together hold the entire property. The trust-held property then keeps the same immunity from the separate creditors of either spouse, and the same treatment under federal and state bankruptcy law, as if it had remained outside the trust as tenants by the entirety, unless the settlor or settlors who transferred it provided otherwise in writing. The immunity ends when a court dissolves the marriage.

Durable Power of Attorney

Witnesses: None required

No witnesses required for power of attorney

Notarization: Required

Notarization is required for a valid durable power of attorney

State-specific notes

•Acknowledgment before a notary public is the formality that creates a presumption of genuineness under 14 V.S.A. §4005. A deed or other conveyance made by virtue of a power of attorney has no effect unless the power of attorney itself is signed, acknowledged, and recorded in the office where the deed is required to be recorded (27 V.S.A. §305); a non-acknowledged POA remains valid between principal and agent under the Vermont UPOAA but is commercially unusable.

•Vermont amended the conveyance statute to clarify that a witness signature is not necessary for the execution of a power of attorney (27 V.S.A. §305(a), as amended by 2023 No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), §18, effective June 6, 2024); only signed, acknowledged, and recorded are required for a deed executed by the agent to take effect under §305.

•Durability is presumed unless the instrument states otherwise. 14 V.S.A. §4004

•An optional witness signature line is provided as a courtesy for any POA the agent will use to sign or record a deed (Vermont real-estate conveyance practice often expects, but does not require, an attesting witness). Leaving the optional witness line blank does not affect the validity of the POA.

•Practical-acceptance rule: while Vermont treats notarization as the formality that creates a presumption of genuineness rather than a strict validity requirement (14 V.S.A. §4005), banks, brokerages, and title companies almost universally refuse to honor an unacknowledged POA, and the conveyance statute conditions effectiveness of any conveyance executed by the agent on a recorded, acknowledged POA (27 V.S.A. §305). Treat notarization as required for the POA to be commercially usable; an unacknowledged Vermont POA fails at the moment it is needed (real-estate deed signing, bank transaction, brokerage rollover) even though it is technically valid between the principal and the agent.

•Vermont publishes two distinct statutory POA forms under chapter 127: the general statutory form (14 V.S.A. §4051, which includes real-estate authority among the granted subjects), and a separate single-transaction real-estate POA (14 V.S.A. §4052). Use the general form for full agency; the single-transaction form for one-off conveyances.

•Act 64 of 2025 (S.109), effective June 12, 2025, expanded the grant-of-specific-authority menu of the general statutory form (14 V.S.A. §4051) to include exercise of elective-share rights (14 V.S.A. §319), waiver rights (14 V.S.A. §323), authority over content and catalogue of electronic communications and digital assets under chapter 125 (RUFADAA), and conveyance/revocation of an enhanced life estate deed under 27 V.S.A. chapter 6 or common law.

Advance Directive

Vt. Stat. tit. 18 §9701 et seq.

Witnesses: 2 required

Two witnesses required. 18 V.S.A. §9703(b)(1)

Notarization: Not required

Notarization is not required but may be accepted

State-specific notes

•Neither the agent nor the principal's spouse, parent, adult sibling, adult child, or adult grandchild may witness the advance directive (18 V.S.A. §9703(c)).

•The principal's health-care provider may not be the principal's agent, and (unless related by blood, marriage, civil union, or adoption) no owner, operator, employee, agent, or contractor of a residential-care facility, health-care facility, or correctional facility in which the principal resides at the time of execution of the advance directive may serve as agent. Residence at any later date does not disqualify an agent under this rule (18 V.S.A. §9702(c)).

•If the principal is being admitted to or is a resident of a nursing home or residential care facility, or is being admitted to or is a patient in a hospital, at the time of execution, an enumerated qualified explainer must explain the nature and effect of the advance directive and sign an affirmation; otherwise the directive is not effective. In all three settings the explainer may be an ombudsman, a recognized member of the clergy, an attorney licensed to practice in Vermont, a Probate Division of the Superior Court designee, an individual designated by a hospital under §9709(d), or a mental health patient representative. In a nursing home or residential care facility only, an individual who volunteers at that facility without compensation and has been trained to explain advance directives, or a clinician not employed by that facility, may also give the explanation; neither may do so for a hospital patient. The explanation may be given in person, over a live interactive audio-video connection, or by telephone (18 V.S.A. §9703(d)–(e)).

•Remote witnessing of advance directives is permitted under §9703(b)(2), added by 2023 No. 88 (Adj. Sess.) effective April 1, 2024, when the principal and remote witness are known to each other, communication is via live audio-video or telephone, and the contact information and relationship are recorded on the directive.

ViewWitness disqualification recital

Under 18 V.S.A. §9703(c), neither the agent named in the advance directive nor the principal's spouse, parent, adult sibling, adult child, or adult grandchild may serve as a witness.

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6 more documents with a subscription

$29/year unlocks the documents below alongside the four free ones above. Your answers and documents are saved privately to your account, encrypted in your browser, so you can revise them any time life changes.

Disposition of Remains Authorization

Names the agent who controls funeral, burial, or cremation decisions, with optional preferences.

HIPAA Authorization

Stand-alone PHI release that survives death for the period you specify, separate from the in-life authorization in your healthcare directive.

Nomination of Conservator

Pre-nominates the person you want a court to appoint if a conservator (or guardian of the estate) is ever needed.

Business Succession Declaration

Identifies your interests in any closely-held businesses and how they should be transferred or wound down.

Real-Estate Retitling Checklist

Step-by-step instructions for transferring real-property deeds into your trust so the trust actually controls those assets.

Letter of Instruction

Non-binding personal note to your executor and family: where to find documents, account access, funeral wishes, and other practical guidance.

Free vs. paid

	Free	Paid
All 4 state-specific documents	Included in free	Included in paid tier
State-specific signing guide	Included in free	Included in paid tier
Download as PDF, print forever	Included in free	Included in paid tier
Secure online storage	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Covers real estate, business, digital, and funeral wishes	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Disposition of remains authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Standalone HIPAA authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Nomination of conservator	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Business succession declaration	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Real-estate retitling checklist	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Special needs trust provisions	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Letter of instruction, pre-filled and editable	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Edit anytime	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Annual review reminder	Not in free	Included in paid tier

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Electronic will status

Vermont has not adopted electronic will legislation. A traditional paper will with physical signatures is required.

Digital assets access

Vermont has adopted RUFADAA (2017). This is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which lets your executor, trustee, or agent access your email, social media, cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage, and other digital accounts after death or incapacity.

To take advantage of RUFADAA, your will, trust, or power of attorney must explicitly grant authority to access digital assets. Without explicit authorization, service providers can deny access even to a court-appointed executor.

Remote online notarization (RON)

Vermont authorized RON in 2022.

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Allowed

POA

Allowed

Remote online witnessing (ROW)

Vermont does not allow remote online witnessing for estate planning documents. Witnesses must be physically present when you sign.

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Not allowed

POA

Not allowed

HC Directive

Not allowed

This information is general in nature and not legal advice. Laws change. Consult a licensed estate planning attorney in Vermont for guidance specific to your situation.

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