Vermont Statutes Title 8. Banking and Insurance, § 13302. Members of a cooperative financial institution; qualifications and voting rights

(a) The members of a cooperative financial institution organized pursuant to this chapter shall be those in whose names accounts are established and persons borrowing from or assuming or obligated upon a loan held by such institution or purchasing property and assuming the secured loan held by such institution.

(b) A single membership in a cooperative financial institution may be held by two or more persons, and a joint and survivorship relationship and successor relationship, whether investors or borrowers, constitutes a single membership.

(c) Each member 18 years of age or over is entitled to one vote at any meeting of the cooperative financial institution, regardless of the number of accounts standing in that member's name, provided that only one vote is allowed on an account held by two or more persons. The internal governance documents may prohibit voting by persons who have become members within six months of the date when the vote is cast. When accounts or shares are pledged, the pledgor may vote the accounts or shares so pledged.

(d) Profits and losses shall be distributed at least annually among the members. On each annual closing day after payment or provision for all expenses and appropriate transfers to reserves, the remainder of net earnings for the annual period shall be credited to an undivided profits account. At each annual period, the governing body shall declare a distribution of earnings. Dividends may also be declared monthly or quarterly. Interim dividends may be paid at the rate most recently declared by the governing body. Payments of net earnings to members may be referred to as dividends or interest.

(e) Membership terminates when the amount of a member's accounts has been paid in full to that member, or when the transfer of membership to other persons has been recorded on the books of the financial institution, or when that member's status as a borrower from the institution terminates.