Vermont Statutes Annotated

Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 15, § 1002 (2026)

Gifts made in contemplation of civil marriage

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(Cite as: 15 V.S.A. § 1002)

§ 1002. Gifts made in contemplation of civil marriage

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to bar a right of action for the recovery of a chattel, the return of money or securities, or the value thereof at the time of the transfer, or the rescission of a deed to real property when the sole consideration for the transfer of the chattel, money, or securities or real property was a contemplated civil marriage that has not occurred, and the court may, if in its discretion justice so requires:

(1) award the defendant a lien upon the chattel, securities or real property for monies expended in connection therewith or improvements made thereto; or

(2) deny judgment for the recovery of the chattel or securities or for rescission of the deed and award money damages in lieu thereof. (Added 1973, No. 198 (Adj. Sess.); amended 2009, No. 3, § 12a, eff. Sept. 1, 2009.)

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 1 case (1 in the last 5 years), 2024–2024 · leading case: waldo v. maxwell, No. 22-cv-2321 (Vt. Super. Ct. Jan. 11, 2024).

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waldo v. maxwell, No. 22-cv-2321 (Vt. Super. Ct. Jan. 11, 2024). “Notwithstanding this criticism, 15 V.S.A. § 1002 remains the law of Vermont, and the case law supporting the return of a conditional gift, such as an engagement ring remains the binding precedent for this Court to apply.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.

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Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 15, § 1002 (2026)

Gifts made in contemplation of civil marriage