Rule 60 - Relief From Judgment or Order(a)Clerical mistakes. Clerical mistakes in judgments, orders or other parts of the record and errors therein arising from oversight or omission may be corrected by the court at any time of its own initiative or on the motion of any party and after such notice, if any, as the court orders. During the pendency of an appeal in the Supreme or Superior Court, such mistakes may be so corrected before the appeal is docketed, and thereafter while the appeal is pending may be so corrected with leave of the Supreme or Superior Court.(b)Mistakes; inadvertence; excusable neglect; newly discovered evidence; fraud, etc. On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or the party's legal representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect;(2) newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to introduce;(3) fraud (whether heretofore denominated intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or other misconduct of a party;(4) the judgment is void;(5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged, or a prior judgment upon which it is based has been reversed or otherwise vacated, or it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application; or(6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment. The motion shall be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1), (2), and (3) not more than one year after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken. In a proceeding under 15A V.S.A., a motion for reasons (1), (2), and (3) shall be filed not more than six months after the decree or order was issued. A motion under this subdivision (b) does not affect the finality of a judgment or suspend its operation. This rule does not limit the power of a court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, order, or proceeding, or to set aside a judgment for fraud upon the court. The procedure for obtaining any relief from a judgment shall be by motion as prescribed in these rules or by an independent action. (c)Motion to alter or amend a judgment. A motion to alter or amend the judgment shall be served not later than 14 days after entry of the judgment.(d)Death or disability of court reporter. When any material part of a transcript of the evidence taken by an official court reporter cannot be obtained because of the reporter's death or disability, or is otherwise unavailable without the fault of the parties, the court may on motion, if it is satisfied that the lack of such transcript prevents a party from effectively prosecuting an appeal, set aside any judgment entered in the proceeding.Amended July 2, 2004, eff. 10/1/2004; amended Oct. 17, 2017, eff. 1/1/2018.Reporter's Notes-2017 Emergency Amendment
Rule 60(c), as amended September 20, 2017, effective January 1, 2018, is further amended to provide a 14-day time period consistent with the basic purpose of the day-is-a-day amendments of the Civil and Probate rules rather than the 28 days adopted initially for consistency with the comparable provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The amendment reflects the significant differences between probate and civil practice. Matters in probate court generally involve important personal concerns that could be adversely affected by the additional extension of the time for appeal resulting from the longer period. Moreover, there is less need in probate practice to be concerned with uniformity with the Federal Rules.
Reporter's Notes-2018 Amendment
Rules 60(c) is amended to extend its 10-day time period to 28 days consistent with the simultaneous "day is a day" amendments to V.R.P.P. 6 and for consistency with the new standard of the comparable Civil Rule, V.R.C.P. 59(e), adopted for consistency with the federal rule.