Vermont End of Life Planning Checklist: Every Document You Need

End-of-life planning in Vermont involves more moving pieces than most states because of several state-specific rules: no default surrogate law, COLST instead of POLST, mandatory town clerk recording for property POAs, and an aggressive estate tax with no spousal portability. Missing any one of these can create expensive, stressful gaps when your family needs clarity most.

This checklist covers every document and filing in the order they should be completed.

Healthcare Documents

1. Execute a Vermont Advance Directive Name a healthcare agent and at least one alternate. Document treatment preferences for terminal illness, permanent vegetative state, and advanced dementia. Include organ donation instructions if desired. Sign in front of two qualified adult witnesses — no notary required. Avoid using your spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, healthcare agent or alternate agents, parents, siblings, children, grandchildren, or any estate beneficiary as witnesses.

2. Register with the VADR Submit a copy of your signed directive to the Vermont Advance Directive Registry through the Vermont Ethics Network. Registration is free for Vermont residents. Create an account and upload a PDF through the VADR User Upload portal, or mail/fax/email a copy with the VADR Combined Registration Agreement & Change Form. Vermont hospitals must query this registry when admitting a patient who lacks decision-making capacity.

3. Complete a COLST/DNR Form (If Appropriate) If you want to prevent CPR, intubation, or other emergency interventions, schedule an appointment with your physician to complete the Clinician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment form. Post the signed original on your refrigerator. Consider ordering state-approved DNR jewelry from StickyJ Medical ID or MedicAlert Foundation (requires a copy of the signed COLST).

4. Distribute Copies Give copies of your advance directive to your healthcare agent, primary care physician, any specialists, and family members who should be aware of your wishes. Keep the signed original in an accessible location at home — not a bank safe deposit box.

Financial and Legal Documents

5. Execute a Durable Financial Power of Attorney Name an agent to handle bank accounts, investments, tax filings, and property transactions if you become incapacitated. Under the 2023 Uniform Power of Attorney Act, a financial POA executed after July 1, 2023, must be notarized to be legally valid. A Vermont power of attorney is durable unless it expressly provides that it terminates on the principal's incapacity.

6. Record the Financial POA with Town Clerks If you will use your financial POA for real-estate transactions, record the acknowledged POA in the land records of every town or city where the applicable deed is required to be recorded. Under 27 V.S.A. § 305, a deed or conveyance through a POA is ineffective or inadmissible unless the POA is signed, acknowledged, and recorded in that specific municipality's records. Recording costs $15 per page.

7. Review Property Titling Verify how your real estate, bank accounts, and vehicles are titled. Assets held in joint tenancy, with payable-on-death (POD) designations, or with transfer-on-death (TOD) beneficiaries bypass probate and — critically in Vermont — are protected from Medicaid estate recovery. Vermont is a probate-only recovery state.

8. Address Estate Tax Exposure Vermont imposes a flat 16% estate tax on estates exceeding $5 million. Unlike the federal system, Vermont does not allow portability of the unused exemption between spouses. If your combined marital estate approaches $5 million, consult an estate planning attorney about a credit shelter trust (bypass trust) to preserve both spouses' exemptions — protecting up to $10 million from state tax.

Storage and Access

Where to store each document:

• Advance directive original: Accessible location at home (desk drawer, file cabinet — not a safe deposit box)
• VADR registration: Online through VEN (serves as a backup accessible to hospitals)
• COLST form: On or in your refrigerator
• Financial POA: Recorded copy at the relevant town or city clerk(s); original kept with your agent
• Will and trust documents: With your attorney or in a fireproof home safe

Who should know where documents are:

• Your healthcare agent and financial agent
• Your spouse or partner
• At least one adult child or trusted friend
• Your primary care physician
• Your attorney (if you have one)

Periodic Review

Review and re-execute your planning documents every 3-5 years, or immediately after:

• Marriage, divorce, or death of a spouse
• Death or incapacity of a named agent
• A major medical diagnosis
• A significant change in assets
• Moving to or from Vermont (out-of-state documents may have different execution requirements)

The Vermont Advance Directive & Living Will Kit covers the healthcare and financial coordination steps with printable checklists, witness verification tools, and filing guides specific to Vermont's municipal recording system.

See more Vermont guides →