Title 15 — Decedents' Estates and Fiduciary Relations
24 chapters · 422 sections in this title.
15 V.I.C. § 1 Definitions
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When used in a statute, in a will or in any other written instrument prescribing the devolution of property rights and unless the statute, the will or the instrument expressly or impliedly declares otherwise, the terms “heirs”, or “heirs at law”, “next of kin” and “distributees” …
15 V.I.C. § 10 Election by surviving spouse regarding share
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(a) Where a testator dies after the effective date of this Code, and leaves surviving a husband or wife, a personal right of election is given to the surviving spouse to take his or her share of the estate as in intestacy, subject to the limitations, conditions and exceptions con…
15 V.I.C. § 11 Compromise of controversies where interests of infants, incompetents or persons unknown or not in being are or may be affected
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(a) The court may authorize executors, administrators and trustees to adjust by compromise any controversy that may arise between different claimants to the estate or property in their hands to which agreement such executors, administrators or trustees and all other parties in be…
15 V.I.C. § 12 Mortgages and liens on or pledges of personal property specifically bequeathed
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Where personal property subject to any lien, mortgage or pledge is specifically bequeathed by will, the legatee must satisfy the lien, mortgage or pledge out of his own property without resorting to the executors of his testator unless there is in the will of such testator a dire…
15 V.I.C. § 13 Manner of execution of will
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(1) Every last will and testament of real or personal property, or both, shall be executed and attested in the following manner:(1) It shall be subscribed by the testator at the end of the will.(2) Such subscription shall be made by the testator in the presence of each of the att…
15 V.I.C. § 14 Witnesses to will to write names and places of residence
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The witnesses to any will shall write opposite to their names their respective places of residence; and every person who shall sign the testator's name to any will by his direction shall write his own name as a witness to the will. Omission to comply with either of these provisio…
15 V.I.C. § 15 Validity of wills executed without the Islands
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A will executed without the Virgin Islands in the mode prescribed by the law, either of the place where executed or of the testator's domicile, shall be deemed to be legally executed, and shall be of the same force and effect as if executed in the mode prescribed by the laws of t…
15 V.I.C. § 16 Wills which may be proved
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A will of real or personal property, executed as prescribed by the laws of the Virgin Islands, or a will of real or personal property executed without the Virgin Islands in the mode prescribed by the law, either of the place where executed or of the testator's domicile, provided …
15 V.I.C. § 17 Effect of change of residence
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The right to have a will admitted to probate, the validity of the execution thereof, or the validity or construction of any provision contained therein, is not affected by a change of the testator's residence made since the execution of the will.
15 V.I.C. § 18 Child born after making of will
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(a) Whenever a testator shall have a child born after the making of a last will, either in the lifetime or after the death of such testator, and shall die leaving such child, so afterborn, unprovided for by any settlement, and neither provided for, nor in any way mentioned in suc…
15 V.I.C. § 19 Devise or bequest to subscribing witness
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If any person shall be a subscribing witness to the execution of any will, wherein any beneficial devise, legacy, interest or appointment of any real or personal estate shall be made to such witness, and such will cannot be proved without the testimony of such witness, the said d…
15 V.I.C. § 2 Capacity to devise
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All persons, except idiots, persons of unsound mind and persons under eighteen years of age, may devise their real property, by last will and testament, duly executed, according to the provisions of this chapter.
15 V.I.C. § 20 Action by after-born child, or by subscribing witness
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A child, born after the making of a will, who is entitled to succeed to a part of the real or personal property of the testator, or a subscribing witness to a will, who is entitled to succeed to a share of such property, may maintain an action against the legatees or devisees, as…
15 V.I.C. § 21 Devise or bequest to descendant or to relative not to lapse
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Whenever any estate, real or personal, shall be devised or bequeathed to a child or other descendant or relative of the testator, and such legatee or devisee shall die during the lifetime of the testator, leaving a child or other descendant who shall survive such testator, such d…
15 V.I.C. § 22 Safe keeping of wills by district court
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The clerk of the district court, upon being paid the fees allowed therefor by law, shall receive and deposit in his office, any last will or testament of a resident of the Virgin Islands which any person shall deliver to him for that purpose, and shall give a written receipt ther…
15 V.I.C. § 23 Sealing and indorsing wills received for safe keeping
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A will delivered to the clerk of the district court for safe keeping shall be inclosed in a sealed wrapper, so that the contents thereof can not be read, and shall have indorsed thereon the name of the testator, his place of residence, and the day, month and year when delivered; …
15 V.I.C. § 24 Delivery of wills received for safe keeping
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(1) A will received by the clerk of the district court for safe keeping shall be delivered only—(1) to the testator in person; or,(2) upon his written order, duly proved by the oath of a subscribing witness; or,(3) after his death to the persons named in the indorsement on the wr…
15 V.I.C. § 25 Opening wills received by court for safe keeping
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If a will has been deposited with the clerk of the district court for safe keeping and has not been delivered as provided in section 24 of this title, the clerk of the court, after the death of the testator, shall publicly open and examine the same, and make known the contents th…
15 V.I.C. § 26 Revocation and cancellation of written wills
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No will in writing, except in the cases hereinafter mentioned, nor any part thereof, shall be revoked, or altered, otherwise than by some other will in writing, or some other writing of the testator, declaring such revocation or alteration, and executed with the same formalities …
15 V.I.C. § 27 Repealed. July 7, 1958, No. 349, § 2, Sess. L. 1958, p. 129. [Repealed.]
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15 V.I.C. § 27 Statutes current through Act 9046 of the 2025 session of the 36th Legislature, including all code changes through October 25, 2025 Virgin Islands Code AnnotatedCopyright © 2026 All rights reserved.
15 V.I.C. § 28 Bond or agreement to convey property devised or bequeathed
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A bond, covenant, or agreement made for a valuable consideration by a testator, to convey any property devised or bequeathed in any last will previously made, shall not be deemed a revocation of such previous devise or bequest, but such property shall pass by the devise or beques…
15 V.I.C. § 29 Charge or incumbrance not a revocation
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A charge or incumbrance upon any real or personal estate for the purpose of securing the payment of money or the performance of any covenant or agreement shall not be deemed a revocation of any will relating to the same estate previously executed. The devises and legacies therein…
15 V.I.C. § 3 Real property which may be devised
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Every estate and interest in real property descendible to heirs, may be devised as provided in this chapter.
15 V.I.C. § 30 Conveyance, when not deemed a revocation
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A conveyance, settlement, deed, or other act of a testator, by which his estate or interest in property, previously devised or bequeathed by him, shall be altered, but not wholly divested, shall not be deemed a revocation of the devise or bequest of such property; but such devise…
15 V.I.C. § 31 Conveyance, when deemed a revocation
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If the provisions of the instrument by which the alteration referred to in section 30 of this title is made are wholly inconsistent with the terms and nature of such previous devise or bequest, such instrument shall operate as a revocation thereof, unless such provisions depend o…
15 V.I.C. § 32 Effect of cancellation of revocation of second will
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If, after making any will, the testator duly makes and executes a second will, the destruction, canceling or revocation of such second will, shall not revive the first will, unless it appears by the terms of such revocation, that it was his intention to revive and give effect to …
15 V.I.C. § 33 Record of wills of real property
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A will of real property, which has been at any time, either before or after this Code takes effect, duly proved in the district court, with the certificate of proof thereof annexed thereto or indorsed thereon, or a certified copy of the will, may be recorded in the office of the …
15 V.I.C. § 34 Index of wills by recorder of deeds
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Upon recording a will or exemplification, as prescribed in section 33 of this title, the recorder of deeds must note and index it in the same books, and substantially in the same manner, as if it were a deed recorded in his office.
15 V.I.C. § 35 Recording will established or proved without the Territory
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Where real property situated within the Virgin Islands, or an interest therein, is devised or made subject to a power of disposition by a will in writing, subscribed by the testator, duly executed in conformity with the laws of the Virgin Islands or of the place where executed or…
15 V.I.C. § 36 Authentication of papers from without the Territory
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To entitle a copy of a will established or admitted to probate or a copy of a petition for letters of administration or of letters testamentary or of letters of administration, granted in any State of the United States, and of the proofs or of any statement of the substance of th…
15 V.I.C. § 37 Validity of purchase notwithstanding devise
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The title of a purchaser in good faith and for a valuable consideration, from the heir of a person who died seized of real property, shall not be affected by a devise of the property made by the latter unless, within two years after the testator's death, the will devising the sam…
15 V.I.C. § 38 Validity and effect of testamentary dispositions
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The validity and effect of a testamentary disposition of real property, situated within the Virgin Islands, or of an interest in real property so situated, which would descend to the heir of an intestate, and the manner in which such property or such an interest descends, where i…
15 V.I.C. § 39 Issue to take per stirpes
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If a person dying after the effective date of this Code devises or bequeaths any present or future interest in real or personal property to the “issue” of himself or another, such issue shall, if in equal degree of consanguinity to their common ancestor, take per capita, but if i…
15 V.I.C. § 4 Capacity to take real property by devise
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A devise of real property may be made to every person capable by law of holding real estate; but no devise to a corporation shall be valid, unless such corporation is expressly authorized by its charter, or by statute, to take by devise.
15 V.I.C. § 40 Testamentary directions to purchase annuities
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If a person dying after the effective date of this Code directs in his will the purchase of an annuity, the person or persons to whom the income thereof is directed to be paid shall not have the right to elect to take the capital sum directed to be used for such purchase in lieu …
15 V.I.C. § 41 Payment of legacies out of real property not specifically devised
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If the personal property of a testator is insufficient for full payment of his general legacies, so much of his real property not specifically devised as shall be necessary for payment of the balance shall be sold and the proceeds used for such payment unless the will shall conta…
15 V.I.C. § 42 Devise or bequest to unincorporated association; trust to preserve property
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(a) If a will devises or bequeaths property to an association which lacks capacity to take the gift because it is unincorporated, and the association is one authorized to become incorporated by the law of the Virgin Islands or by the law of the jurisdiction in which it has its pr…
15 V.I.C. § 5 Statutory power to take possession, and to sell, mortgage or lease real property in absence of valid power in will
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(a) Notwithstanding the absence of a valid power therein, every will of a person dying after the effective date of this Code, shall be construed to give to the executor or trustee, who has duly qualified, the power to take possession, collect the rents, and manage, and to sell, m…
15 V.I.C. § 51 Short title
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This chapter may be cited as the “Virgin Islands Uniform Electronic Wills Act”.
15 V.I.C. § 52 Definitions
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(a) “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. (b) “Electronic presence” means the relationship of two or more individuals in different locations communicating in real time to the sa…
15 V.I.C. § 53 Law applicable to electronic wills; principles of equity
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An electronic will is a will for all purposes under the law of the Virgin Islands. The law of the Virgin Islands applicable to wills and principles of equity applies to an electronic will, except as modified by this chapter.
15 V.I.C. § 54 Choice of law regarding execution
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(1) A will executed electronically, but not in compliance with section 55(a), is an electronic will under this chapter if executed in compliance with the law of the jurisdiction where the testator is:(1) physically located when the will is signed; or(2) domiciled or resides when …
15 V.I.C. § 55 Execution of electronic will
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(a) Subject to section 58(e) and except as provided in section 56, an electronic will must be:(1) a record that is readable as text at the time of signing under paragraph (2);(2) signed by:(A) the testator; or(B) another individual in the testator’s name, in the testator’s physic…
15 V.I.C. § 56 Harmless error
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(1) A record readable as text that is not executed in compliance with section 55(a) is deemed to comply with section 55(a) if the proponent of the record establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent intended the record to be:(1) the decedent’s will;(2) a partial…
15 V.I.C. § 57 Revocation
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(a) An electronic will may revoke all or part of a previous will. (b) All or part of an electronic will is revoked by:(1) a subsequent will that revokes all or part of the electronic will expressly or by inconsistency; or(2) A physical act, if it established by clear and convinci…
15 V.I.C. § 58 Electronic will attested and made self-proving at time of execution
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(a) An electronic will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proving by acknowledgment of the testator and affidavits of the witnesses. (b) If both the attesting witnesses are physically present in the same location as the testator at the time of signing under s…
15 V.I.C. § 59 Certification of paper copy
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An individual may create a certified paper copy of an electronic will by affirming under penalty of perjury that a paper copy of an electronic will is a complete, true and accurate copy of the electronic will. If the electronic will was made self-proving, the certified paper copy…
15 V.I.C. § 6 Construction of will of real estate
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Every will that shall be made by a testator devising, in express terms, all his real property, or in any other terms denoting his intent to devise all his real property, shall be construed to pass all the real estate, which he was entitled to devise, at the time of his death.
15 V.I.C. § 60 Uniformity of application and construction
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In applying and construing this uniform act, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to each subject matter among states that enact it.
15 V.I.C. § 61 Relating to Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act
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This chapter modifies, limits, or supersedes the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 7001 et seq., but does not modify, limit Section 101(c) of that act, 15 U.S.C. Section 7001(c) or authorize electronic delivery of any of the notices desc…