Vermont § 141 - Execution and acknowledgment of conveyance

§ 141. Execution and acknowledgment of conveyance

• (a) A homestead or an interest therein shall not be conveyed by the owner thereof, if
  married, except by way of mortgage for the purchase money thereof given at the time
  of such purchase, unless the wife or husband joins in the execution and acknowledgment
  of such conveyance. A conveyance thereof, or of an interest therein, not so made
  and acknowledged, shall be inoperative so far only as relates to the homestead provided
  for in this chapter. (b) When a mortgagee takes an accruing mortgage, the only debt which shall be secured
  thereby or become a lien upon the property described therein shall be the debt described
  in the mortgage and existing at the time of its execution and any subsequent direct
  indebtedness of the mortgagor to such mortgagee; provided, that when the mortgage
  includes a homestead, the written consent of the wife or husband of the mortgagor
  to the creation of such subsequent direct indebtedness shall be required. (c) If a mortgaged property includes a homestead, any amendment to the mortgage which
  increases the amount of the indebtedness secured thereby or extends the date of maturity
  thereof shall be executed and acknowledged by both spouses. The failure to obtain
  the written spousal consent shall not affect the validity or priority of such amendment,
  but the lien created thereby shall be inoperative so far only as relates to the rights
  of homestead of such spouse in the mortgaged premises under chapter 3 of this title,
  provided the amendment is challenged by such spouse before his or her homestead interest
  is otherwise extinguished. (d) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this section, a spouse or civil union
  partner may convey his or her respective homestead interest to the other spouse or
  civil union partner prior to the time the homestead right vests, thereby divesting
  the grantor of any homestead interest in the property. A conveyance of homestead property
  between spouses or civil union partners shall be deemed to include a conveyance of
  any homestead interest. This section shall apply retroactively, except that it shall
  not affect a suit begun or pending as of July 1, 2008. (Amended 1999, No. 153 (Adj. Sess.), § 31, eff. May 24, 2000; 2007, No. 177 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)