Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Vermont fixes the petition filing fee at $150 by statute, and the periodic accounting is annual, due 30 days after the appointment anniversary. Everything on this page is quoted from the jurisdiction’s own statute or an official court schedule, and where Vermont publishes no figure this page says so rather than printing an estimate. What drives the rest of the bill — lawyers, an investigation, a capacity evaluation — is on what guardianship costs.
What Vermont fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | Vermont’s probate entry-fee statute sets a flat fee, not ad valorem, for adult guardianship: 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(16) ‘Guardianships for adults’ = $150.00 (the same statute sets a separate $150.00 line for ‘Guardianships for minors’ at (a)(15), and a $90.00 line for ‘Registration of foreign guardianship order’ at (a)(34) — none of those apply here). Part of the fee may be waived for an applicant the court finds unable to pay, per 32 V.S.A. § 1434(b) referencing Vt. R. Civ. P. 3.1. | 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(16); petition requirements at 14 V.S.A. § 3063 |
| Bond | Chapter 111 contains exactly one guardianship bond provision and it is not inside the adult-guardianship subchapter: 14 V.S.A. § 2751, in subchapter 3 (‘bonds’), requires that ‘before acting as such, a guardian appointed by the Probate Division of the Superior Court shall give a bond with sureties in a sum as the court directs.’ The amount is wholly court-set – no threshold, no formula, no fixed figure. Subchapter 12 (§§ 3060-3081), which governs guardianship of an adult in need of guardianship, contains no bond section and no cross-reference to § 2751. No rule anywhere in the chapter allocates the bond premium or its cost to any payer. | 14 V.S.A. § 2751 (scope-to-adults uncertain; see notes) |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | 14 V.S.A. § 3065 governs the respondent’s counsel in an adult guardianship proceeding: the court must appoint counsel for the respondent when the initial petition is filed (unless already represented), and § 3065(c) states the payer directly: ‘Respondent’s counsel shall be compensated from the respondent’s estate unless the respondent is found indigent in accordance with Rule 3.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. | 14 V.S.A. § 3065(c) (counsel payer, VERIFIED); 14 V.S.A. § 3066 (GAL appointment standard; GAL payer UNVERIFIED — not stated in this section) |
| Periodic accounting or report | 14 V.S.A. § 3076, titled ‘Annual reports; final accounting; fees,’ states the guardian must file an annual report with the appointing court ‘within 30 days of the anniversary date of the appointment’ (§ 3076(a)) — explicitly annual, not biennial/triennial, no trap found here. The annual report must include a financial accounting under § 2921 (the older subchapter-7 accounting mechanics) only if the guardian was granted financial-supervision power under § 3069(c) (the statute’s own cross-reference reads ‘subdivision 3069(c)(4)’, but as fetched today § 3069(c)(4) is actually the contract-approval power, not the financial-supervision power, which is § 3069(c)(3) — flagging this as a possible stale/uncorrected internal cross-reference in the current codification, not resolving it myself). A final accounting is due at termination if the guardian held financial power (§ 3076(c)). Critically, § 3076’s own title includes the word ‘fees’ but the actual fee content is not a report-filing fee — it is a guardian’s-own-compensation holdback: § 3076(d)(1) bars the guardian from being paid any fee or reimbursed any expense from the ward’s estate until the annual report or final accounting has been filed; (d)(2) lets the guardian move the Probate Division for approval of fees/expenses at any time. No dollar filing fee for the periodic report itself was found in 14 V.S.A.; checked the probate fee statute, 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a), which does have an explicit ‘Annual accounts on trusts $85.00’ line (11) and ‘Annual accounts on decedents’ estates … $85.00′ line (12), but has no corresponding ‘annual account on guardianship’ fee line among its 34 enumerated items — this is a genuine, checked absence, not an unchecked gap. | 14 V.S.A. § 3076; cross-referenced 14 V.S.A. § 2921; 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a) (checked, no matching fee line) |
What the proceeding is called here. Vermont does not use a separate ‘conservator’ office for adults. A single, unified ‘guardian’ is appointed under 14 V.S.A. chapter 111, subchapter 12 (‘Persons in Need of Guardianship,’ §§ 3060-3081) for an adult (‘person in need of guardianship’), and the court grants that same guardian a customized bundle of powers — personal-care supervision, medical-consent authority, and/or ‘general financial supervision over the income and resources’ (14 V.S.A. § 3069(c)(3)) — rather than appointing a separate estate fiduciary. A guardian granted only some powers is a ‘limited guardian’ (§ 3069(d)). Proceedings run in the Probate Division of the Superior Court. Note: chapter 111 also contains an older, separate set of subchapters (1-11, §§ 2601-3011) that is largely about guardianship of minors (subchapter 2’s petition/hearing/consent provisions are minor-specific) and general historical bond/accounting mechanics (subchapters 3, 4, 7) that subchapter 12 cross-references for financial matters (e.g. § 3076(b)(1) points to the accounting mechanics at § 2921 in subchapter 7). out of scope, noted per brief: guardianship for people with developmental disabilities is its own separate statute, 18 V.S.A. chapter 215, not part of 14 V.S.A. chapter 111 — not merged into any cell below.
The filing fee
Vermont’s probate entry-fee statute sets a flat fee, not ad valorem, for adult guardianship: 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(16) ‘Guardianships for adults’ = $150.00 (the same statute sets a separate $150.00 line for ‘Guardianships for minors’ at (a)(15), and a $90.00 line for ‘Registration of foreign guardianship order’ at (a)(34) — none of those apply here). Part of the fee may be waived for an applicant the court finds unable to pay, per 32 V.S.A. § 1434(b) referencing Vt. R. Civ. P. 3.1.
(15) Guardianships for minors $150.00 (16) Guardianships for adults $150.00.
part of the filing fee may be waived if the court finds the applicant is unable to pay it… No fee shall be charged for necessary documents pertaining to the opening of estates, trusts, and guardianships, including the issuance of two certificates of appointment and respective letters.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(16); petition requirements at 14 V.S.A. § 3063.
The bond
Chapter 111 contains exactly one guardianship bond provision and it is not inside the adult-guardianship subchapter: 14 V.S.A. § 2751, in subchapter 3 (‘bonds’), requires that ‘before acting as such, a guardian appointed by the Probate Division of the Superior Court shall give a bond with sureties in a sum as the court directs.’ The amount is wholly court-set – no threshold, no formula, no fixed figure. Subchapter 12 (§§ 3060-3081), which governs guardianship of an adult in need of guardianship, contains no bond section and no cross-reference to § 2751. No rule anywhere in the chapter allocates the bond premium or its cost to any payer.
Before acting as such, a guardian appointed by the Probate Division of the Superior Court shall give a bond with sureties in a sum as the court directs, conditioned as follows: (1) to make a true inventory… (3) to render an account of the property of the ward in the guardian
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: 14 V.S.A. § 2751 (scope-to-adults uncertain; see notes).
Who pays the premium is not answered. A surety bond carries a recurring premium and it is usually the largest ongoing cost of a guardianship of the estate. Vermont states no express rule on who bears it in the chapter read for this page, and no figure for what one costs is published anywhere this project could verify. That is a gap in the law and in the published record, not a gap we have filled with a guess.
Guardian ad litem and attorney fees
14 V.S.A. § 3065 governs the respondent’s counsel in an adult guardianship proceeding: the court must appoint counsel for the respondent when the initial petition is filed (unless already represented), and § 3065(c) states the payer directly: ‘Respondent’s counsel shall be compensated from the respondent’s estate unless the respondent is found indigent in accordance with Rule 3.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.
(a)(1) The respondent shall have the right to be represented by counsel of his or her own choosing at any stage of a guardianship proceeding. Unless a respondent is already represented, the court: (A) shall appoint counsel for the respondent when an initial petition for guardianship is filed;
(c) Respondent’s counsel shall be compensated from the respondent’s estate unless the respondent is found indigent in accordance with Rule 3.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. For indigent respondents, the court shall maintain a list of pro bono counsel from the private bar to be used before appointing nonprofit legal services organizations to serve as counsel.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: 14 V.S.A. § 3065(c) (counsel payer, VERIFIED); 14 V.S.A. § 3066 (GAL appointment standard; GAL payer UNVERIFIED — not stated in this section).
How often you have to account
Annual, due 30 days after the appointment anniversary. Do not carry that assumption across a state line: the interval is set by each state separately, several are biennial or triennial, and your own appointing court can order more often than the statutory minimum. The document that governs you is your order.
14 V.S.A. § 3076, titled ‘Annual reports; final accounting; fees,’ states the guardian must file an annual report with the appointing court ‘within 30 days of the anniversary date of the appointment’ (§ 3076(a)) — explicitly annual, not biennial/triennial, no trap found here. The annual report must include a financial accounting under § 2921 (the older subchapter-7 accounting mechanics) only if the guardian was granted financial-supervision power under § 3069(c) (the statute’s own cross-reference reads ‘subdivision 3069(c)(4)’, but as fetched today § 3069(c)(4) is actually the contract-approval power, not the financial-supervision power, which is § 3069(c)(3) — flagging this as a possible stale/uncorrected internal cross-reference in the current codification, not resolving it myself). A final accounting is due at termination if the guardian held financial power (§ 3076(c)). Critically, § 3076’s own title includes the word ‘fees’ but the actual fee content is not a report-filing fee — it is a guardian’s-own-compensation holdback: § 3076(d)(1) bars the guardian from being paid any fee or reimbursed any expense from the ward’s estate until the annual report or final accounting has been filed; (d)(2) lets the guardian move the Probate Division for approval of fees/expenses at any time. No dollar filing fee for the periodic report itself was found in 14 V.S.A.; checked the probate fee statute, 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a), which does have an explicit ‘Annual accounts on trusts $85.00’ line (11) and ‘Annual accounts on decedents’ estates … $85.00′ line (12), but has no corresponding ‘annual account on guardianship’ fee line among its 34 enumerated items — this is a genuine, checked absence, not an unchecked gap.
The guardian shall file an annual report with the appointing court within 30 days of the anniversary date of the appointment.
a financial accounting as required by section 2921 of this title if the guardian has been granted power over income and resources pursuant to subdivision 3069(c)(4) of this title.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: 14 V.S.A. § 3076; cross-referenced 14 V.S.A. § 2921; 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a) (checked, no matching fee line).
What an accounting has to contain, and the duties that come with it, are on the guardian accounting duties page.
What this page does not tell you
All four items this page set out to establish were read at primary and are stated above with their cites. What is missing everywhere, in every state, is a price: what an attorney charges to bring an uncontested petition, what a court-ordered capacity evaluation or investigation costs, and what a surety charges for the bond. None of it is published by any authority, and this page does not estimate it.
Where this fits
The filing fee is the smallest part of what a guardianship costs, and the national page sets out the costs that are larger and are not published anywhere. If nobody has been appointed yet, the comparison that actually matters is against the document that avoids this proceeding entirely — guardianship against a power of attorney.
Sources
| Item | Citation | Tier | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(16); petition requirements at 14 V.S.A. § 3063 | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Bond | 14 V.S.A. § 2751 (scope-to-adults uncertain; see notes) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | 14 V.S.A. § 3065(c) (counsel payer, VERIFIED); 14 V.S.A. § 3066 (GAL appointment standard; GAL payer UNVERIFIED — not stated in this section) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | 14 V.S.A. § 3076; cross-referenced 14 V.S.A. § 2921; 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a) (checked, no matching fee line) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
General consumer information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Guardianship and conservatorship are governed by STATE law and differ materially between states; every figure here is quoted from the cited source as read on the date shown and changes without notice. Read as of August 14, 2026.
Also on Vermont: Vermont Small Estate Affidavit.