Vermont Asset Search

Every link in this guide was opened and verified on Sep. 17, 2026.

Vermont land records are kept by towns and cities, so the correct municipality is an early research decision. Its court guide also emphasizes financial disclosure after a small-claims judgment. A wage-withholding form should not be mistaken for a bank-collection procedure.

An asset appearing in a public record is not automatically available to pay a judgment. This guide separates the public-record search from private financial information and the Vermont collection process.

Follow the documents, not just the name

Search the town containing the parcel and follow the current deed owner. Compare company filing history and signed records where an entity holds title. An address used for correspondence may be a useful connection but is not evidence that the debtor owns every property associated with it.

Vermont Judiciary's small-claims collection guide describes financial disclosure after judgment, including its 30-day disclosure step. That provides a structured route to information about the debtor's circumstances rather than a public search of private financial accounts.

For money held by a bank or another third party, investigate the applicable trustee-process procedure. Vermont's statutes address execution following a judgment against a trustee. The court must have the proper proceeding and order; a financial disclosure form alone does not authorize a bank to pay the creditor.

Use the current court instructions to identify the bank, obtain the necessary process, arrange service and handle answers, exemptions and payment. The small-claims wage-withholding materials address earnings and should not be treated as a universal bank packet.

The court guide also discusses the time limit for bringing an action to renew a judgment, including the eight-year period it describes. Check the actual judgment and required action before deciding to revisit assets years later. A fresh search is useful only if the collection right has been preserved.

The applicable official starting points are Vermont Judiciary: collecting a small-claims judgment, Vermont Statutes: section 3063, execution on a trustee judgment. Use the current issuer's forms and instructions for the particular case.

The Vermont guide describes recording a certified judgment in the town land records for the applicable real-estate lien route. That is separate from obtaining a sale or payment. Review deeds, mortgages and the debtor's actual interest before treating a recorded lien as valuable.

The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 estimates report an owner-occupied housing rate of 73.2% and a median value of owner-occupied housing of $316,600 in Vermont. The rate refers to occupied housing units, not a percentage of people. The value is not an estimate of equity available to creditors. Census QuickFacts: Vermont.

Town land records, company connections and court-required financial disclosure are useful starting points. Renewal planning and the distinction between property types should be resolved before a delayed collection attempt.

Use the correct town for land records and the correct court process for bank money. Do not substitute a wage form or assume a disclosure order is itself a turnover order.

• Vermont Judiciary: collecting a small-claims judgment
• Vermont Statutes: section 3063, execution on a trustee judgment

Compare other states and asset types.

Vermont divorces are heard in the Family Division of the Superior Court, which 4 V.S.A. 33 gives exclusive jurisdiction over annulment, divorce and civil union dissolution, and the Superior Court clerk of the county unit where the case was filed keeps the file. Rule 6(a) of the Vermont Rules for Public Access to Court Records gives the public access to all case records except the exceptions in Rule 6(b), and Rule 6(b) excepts the affidavits of income and assets filed under 15 V.S.A. 662 and Rules 4.0 to 4.2 of the Rules for Family Proceedings. Rule 4.1(b)(2) of the family rules also keeps the parties' location and identity information for parties and counsel only.

The sworn money forms

Both parties to a Vermont divorce must file the affidavit of income and assets that 15 V.S.A. 662 requires, which the Judiciary splits into two forms: 400-00813A, the Financial Affidavit, with income, the employer's name and address, any second employer, public benefits, loans and debts and monthly expenses, and 400-00813B, the Financial Affidavit for Property and Assets, with real estate, personal property, vehicles, bank accounts, investments, retirement accounts, life insurance policies and businesses. They are filed by the first case manager's conference with a copy to the other party, and Rule 6(b) keeps both out of public view. The documents that carry the finances into the public file are the final order and the stipulation incorporated into it. The Judiciary's own Final Stipulation on Property, Debts and Spousal Support, form 400-00878, sets out vehicles, furniture and other personal property, pensions and retirement plans, other financial assets such as bank accounts, stocks, bonds and mutual funds, real estate, the division of debt and spousal maintenance, and it becomes part of the Final Order, which is a public case record under Rule 6(a).

Finding and reading the file

The Vermont Judiciary Public Portal at publicportal.courts.vt.gov does not show Family Division case information to anonymous public users; only Civil Division and Judicial Bureau index information is open remotely, and document images require elevated access granted to parties and attorneys. A non-party uses the public access terminal at most courthouses, searching by case number or party name at no charge with a fee to print, or submits the Request for Access to Court Record form, 600-00033, to the court where the case was filed. Paper copies are 25 cents per page with a $1 minimum and certified copies $5. Under Rule 9 of the public access rules, replaced by order effective April 11, 2022, a party or affected person who asks the court to seal a record must show by clear and convincing evidence that good cause and exceptional circumstances exist and that no reasonable alternative to sealing exists.

Bankruptcy files for Vermont residents

Vermont is one bankruptcy district, the District of Vermont at vtb.uscourts.gov, with its clerk's office in Burlington and hearings in Burlington or Rutland. Its schedules name each deposit account by institution and the employer by name and are public under 11 U.S.C. 107, the open counterpart to the confidential affidavits in the Family Division file.

After the file: the financial disclosure hearing

Vermont's post-judgment tool is the financial disclosure hearing. In a small claims case, 12 V.S.A. 5537(a) provides that on request of a judgment creditor whose judgment has remained unsatisfied for 30 days, the court shall order the judgment debtor to appear and disclose information relating to his or her ability to pay the judgment in full, after which the court may order such payments as it deems appropriate and treat non-payment as contempt; Civil Division judgments are enforced by writ of execution under Rule 69 of the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure, and the Civil Division also holds disclosure hearings. The Vermont judgments and liens page covers the procedure.

• Form 400-00813B, Financial Affidavit, Property and Assets. What it's useful for: the sworn asset form that Rule 6(b) keeps from public view.
• Supreme Court order amending V.R.P.A.C.R. 5, 6(b) and 9, effective April 11, 2022. What it's useful for: the sealing standard in Rule 9.
• Records requests, Vermont Judiciary. What it's useful for: public access terminals, the request form and copy fees.
• 12 V.S.A. 5537. What it's useful for: the order to appear and disclose ability to pay.

The national guide covers what stays private, the collection tools for every asset class and what a search and levy can cost: Asset Search, what public records reveal and what stays private.