contingent claim in Vermont

1939Section 2940 of the Public Laws reads as follows: “If a person is liable as surety for the deceased, or has other contingent claims against his estate which cannot be proved as a debt before the commissioners or allowed by them, the sáme may be presented, with the proof, to the probate court, or to the commissioners, who shall state in their report that such claim was presented to them.” A contingent claim under the statute is one “where the liability depends upon some future event, which may or may not happen, and therefore makes it now wholly uncertain whether there ever will be a liability.

1938If an action is commenced against an executor or administrator, on a contingent claim which has not been presented to the commissioners and for the payment of which sufficient assets have not been retained, the executor or administrator may plead to such action that he has fully administered the estate which has come to his possession or knowledge; and if it appears that he had fully administered at the time the claim was presented and had no assets which could lawfully be appropriated for that purpose, he shall be discharged and shall recover his costs; but if it is found that he had assets s

2014Although not defined in chapter 66 of Title 14, the word “claim” in statutes that establish deadlines for filing claims in probate proceedings generally “means those obligations which are in the broad sense of the term, debts and would include obligations arising out of contract express or implied.” Matey v. Estate of Dember, 774 A.2d 113, 126-27 (Conn. 2001) (citation omitted).