Vermont will requirements (sign in front of two witnesses who sign in front of each other)

The short version

How to sign a will in Vermont

Product path is §5(a) only. "(a) A will shall be: (1) in writing; (2) signed in the presence of two or more credible witnesses by the testator or in the testator's name by some other person in the testator's presence and by the testator's express direction; and (3) attested and subscribed by the witnesses in the presence of the testator and each other."

1. Put the will in writing.
2. Sign it in front of two or more credible witnesses. Or have someone sign your name, in your presence and by your express direction, in front of those witnesses.
3. The witnesses attest and subscribe in your presence.
4. They also do it in each other's presence.

The phrase is "signed in the presence of." There is no acknowledgment option in §5(a). If a witness walks in after the signature is on the page, the fix is not to say "that's mine." The fix is to have the signing happen in front of both of them. The proxy wording is specific too. Someone else may sign your name "in the testator's presence and by the testator's express direction." The statute's word is express. Make the direction clear enough that nobody in the room has to guess. §5(b) covers witnesses to a will signed under the Secretary of State's Emergency Administrative Rules for Remote Notarial Acts and the self-proving provisions of §108, during the period those rules are in effect. This page does not teach that path and does not say whether those rules are in effect today. Killswitch prints the in-person paper ceremony in §5(a).

Vermont will witnesses

Two or more credible witnesses. The will is signed in their presence, and they attest and subscribe in your presence and each other's. That is the validity count.

§10: "Any beneficial devise or legacy made or given in a will to a subscribing witness to the will or to the spouse of a subscribing witness shall be voidable unless there are two other competent, subscribing witnesses to the will. Notwithstanding this section, a provision in the will for payment of a debt shall not be void or disqualify the creditor as a witness to the will."

Three things to keep straight.

Voidable is not void. The statute did not say the gift disappears on its own. It said the gift can be undone. Who may undo it, and how, is not in that sentence, and this page does not guess.

"Two other" is the gift condition. It is not a three-witness validity rule. Two credible witnesses make a valid Vermont will. If one of them, or that witness's spouse, takes a beneficial gift, the gift is exposed unless two other competent subscribing witnesses also signed.

The spouse counts. A gift to your witness's husband or wife falls under the same sentence.

A debt provision is safe. A creditor whose debt the will provides for can still witness, and that provision is not void.

The easy version: pick two witnesses who take nothing and are not married to anyone who does.

Does a Vermont will need to be notarized

For validity under §5(a): no.

§108 lets a will be self-proved as to its execution by the sworn acknowledgment of you and the witnesses, made before a notary public or other official authorized to administer oaths in the place of execution, covering four things:

1. You signed the instrument as your will, or expressly directed another to sign for you, in the presence of two witnesses. 2. The signing was your free and voluntary act for the purposes expressed in the will. 3. Each witness signed at your request, in your presence, and in the presence of the other witness. 4. To the best knowledge of each witness at the time of the signing, you were at least 18 years of age or emancipated by court order, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.

Self-proof does not replace the two witnesses. It is a sworn record of the ceremony you already ran. §108 does not spell out a separate later-in-time procedure, so this page does not invent one.

Vermont will mistakes that hurt later

1. Acknowledging instead of signing in front of them. §5(a)(2) says "signed in the presence of" the witnesses. No acknowledgment alternative.
2. Dropping "each other." §5(a)(3): attested and subscribed in the presence of the testator and each other.
3. Changing "voidable" to "void," or "two other" into three witnesses. §10 makes a witness's gift voidable unless two other competent subscribing witnesses. The validity count is still two.
4. Building a remote ceremony on §5(b). It is tied to emergency rules and §108. Out of scope here.
5. Assuming a handwritten will skips witnesses. Chapter 1 has no holographic sentence.
6. Forgetting the spouse. §10 reaches a gift to a subscribing witness's spouse too.

Are holographic wills valid in Vermont

Not as a Vermont shortcut. The wills chapter has no sentence that makes an unwitnessed handwritten will valid. A will in your handwriting still needs §5(a): signed in front of two credible witnesses who attest and subscribe in your presence and each other's.

§7 is separate. A person in active military service may dispose of their estate as they otherwise might have, and a military will prepared and executed under 10 U.S.C. §1044d, with a provision saying so, is deemed legally executed. That is a military-will rule, not a civilian handwriting rule. FAQ only.

How Killswitch helps with a Vermont will

Killswitch drafts the will and prints §5(a) instructions: writing, signed in front of two or more credible witnesses (by you, or by someone signing your name in your presence at your express direction), with the witnesses attesting and subscribing in your presence and each other's. No acknowledgment shortcut. §10 is stated as voidable, with "two other" as the gift condition and not a witness count. The §108 sworn acknowledgment is optional.

Free to write and read. Pay once for the finished copy. You still run §5(a). We do not notarize. We are not your lawyer.

Start your Vermont will

Free to write and read. Pay once for the finished copy. Signing instructions for your state print on the document.

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Frequently asked questions

Sources

• 14 V.S.A. §5 (execution of will; requisites)
• 14 V.S.A. §10 (devise or legacy to witness)
• 14 V.S.A. §108 (self-proved wills)
• 14 V.S.A. §7 (soldier or sailor; military will)
• Killswitch Terms