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Dying Without a Will

14 V.S.A. § 311 — the spouse takes everything unless the decedent has descendants from outside the marriage

  • After debts, funeral charges, allowances and expenses, the surviving spouse takes the whole estate if no descendant survives, or if every surviving descendant is also the spouse's.
  • If the decedent leaves a descendant who is not the spouse's, the spouse takes one-half.
  • The rest goes to the descendants, then parents, then siblings and their descendants, then grandparents, then the next of kin.
  • An heir who does not outlive the decedent by 120 hours is treated as having died first.
  • 14 V.S.A. § 311
  • 14 V.S.A. § 314
  • 14 V.S.A. § 337
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Sources for this section (3)
  1. 14 V.S.A. § 311 — Share of surviving spouse
  2. 14 V.S.A. § 314 — Share of heirs other than surviving spouse
  3. 14 V.S.A. § 337 — Requirement that individual survive decedent for 120 hours

Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Vermont attorney.

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