Vermont Divorce Temporary Orders: Custody, Support, and Property During Your Case

A Vermont divorce can take anywhere from 3 to 18 months to finalize. During that time, someone needs to pay the mortgage, the children need a stable living arrangement, and shared assets need protection. That's what temporary orders do — they set the rules while your case is pending.

What Temporary Orders Cover

Temporary orders can address virtually any issue that needs immediate resolution:

Temporary custody and parenting time. The court can establish a temporary schedule for where the children live and when each parent has contact. This prevents one parent from unilaterally relocating with the children or restricting the other parent's access during the case.

Temporary child support. Based on the same state guidelines used for permanent support, the court can order one parent to pay child support immediately rather than waiting months for a final hearing. The calculation uses the official Vermont Child Support Calculator and considers each parent's income, the custody arrangement, and childcare costs.

Temporary spousal maintenance. If one spouse has been financially dependent during the marriage — a stay-at-home parent, a spouse who left their career — the court can order temporary financial support to cover basic living expenses while the case is pending.

Exclusive use of the marital home. The court can grant one spouse the right to remain in the family home and order the other spouse to vacate. This is most common when domestic violence is alleged or when the living arrangement is creating an unsafe environment for children.

Restraining orders on assets. The court can prohibit either spouse from selling, transferring, or depleting marital assets during the divorce. This prevents one spouse from draining a bank account, taking out new loans against the house, or canceling insurance policies.

How to Request Temporary Orders

Temporary orders are typically raised at the case management conference, which the court schedules 42 to 60 days after filing. The case manager meets with both parties (or their attorneys) to identify contested issues and determine what needs immediate attention.

If you need relief before the case management conference — for example, a spouse is dissipating assets or blocking access to the children — you can file a motion for emergency temporary orders. Emergency motions can be heard on an expedited schedule, sometimes within days.

For the case management conference, come prepared with:

• Completed financial affidavits (Forms 400-00813A and 400-00813B)
• A proposed parenting schedule (if children are involved)
• Documentation of your monthly living expenses
• Evidence of any urgent circumstances (bank statements showing withdrawals, communications about relocation)

How Long Temporary Orders Last

Temporary orders remain in effect until the final decree is entered — or until the court modifies them based on a change in circumstances. If your case takes 12 months to resolve, the temporary custody arrangement and support payments stay in place for that entire period.

Once the judge signs the final decree (which enters as a decree nisi with a 90-day waiting period), the permanent orders in the decree replace the temporary ones. If the final decree has different custody or support terms than the temporary order, the transition happens on the decree date.

Temporary Orders and the Final Outcome

Here's something important to understand: while temporary orders aren't supposed to prejudice the final outcome, they often set the pattern. If one parent has primary physical custody under a temporary order for 12 months and the arrangement is working well, the judge may be inclined to make that arrangement permanent.

This is why the temporary custody hearing matters more than many people realize. The arrangement you agree to (or that the court imposes) early in the case often becomes the baseline for the final order.

Stipulated Temporary Agreements

If you and your spouse can agree on temporary arrangements without court intervention, you can submit a written stipulation to the case manager. Agreed-upon temporary terms are approved faster and avoid the adversarial dynamic of a contested temporary hearing.

The Vermont Divorce Filing Process Guide includes worksheets for organizing your temporary-order requests — from calculating interim child support to documenting monthly expenses — so you walk into the case management conference with clear, organized proposals.

See more Vermont guides →