Chittenden Trust Co. v. MacPherson

Chittenden Trust Company, as executor of two closed estates in the Chittenden Probate Court, brought a. civil action in Chittenden Superior Court under 32 V.S.A. § 509, seeking recovery of probate distribution fees paid to the state under 32 V.S.A. '§ 1434(6). Those fees were paid before our decision in In re Estate of Eddy, 135 Vt. 468, 380 A.2d 530 (1977), adjudging the fee in reality a tax, and unconstitutional. Chittenden also sought class action status, for its litigation under V.R.C.P. 23, as representative of other probate estates similarly situated. The trial court first accorded such…