Title 64.2, Wills, Trusts, and Fiduciaries

If the title to any property to which this article applies is held by the surviving spouse at the time of the decedent's death, the personal representative or an heir or devisee of the decedent may institute an action to perfect title to the property. The personal representative …

A. If a surviving spouse has apparent title to property to which this article applies, a purchaser for value or a lender taking a security interest in the property takes his interest in the property free of any rights of the personal representative or an heir or devisee of the de…

This article does not affect rights of creditors with respect to property to which this article applies.

The provisions of this article do not prevent married persons from severing or altering their interests in property to which this article applies.

This article does not authorize a person to dispose of property by will if it is held under limitations imposed by law preventing testamentary disposition by that person.

This article shall be so applied and construed as to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this article among those states which enact it.

A. The provisions of this article shall apply to determining the elective share of a surviving spouse for decedents dying on or after January 1, 2017. B. As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Decedent's non-probate transfers to others" means t…

A. In a proceeding for an elective share, the following are applied first to satisfy the elective-share amount and to reduce or eliminate any contributions due from the decedent's probate estate and recipients of the decedent's non-probate transfers to others: 1. Amounts excluded…

A. Only original recipients of the decedent's non-probate transfers to others, and the donees of the recipients of the decedent's non-probate transfers to others, to the extent the donees have the property or its proceeds, are liable to make a proportional contribution toward sat…

A. The election by the surviving spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled in the Commonwealth must be made no later than six months after the later of (i) the time of the admission of the decedent's will to probate or (ii) the qualification of an administrator on the decedent's in…

A. The right of election may be exercised only by or on behalf of a surviving spouse who is living when the election for the elective share is filed in the court under subsection A of § 64.2-308.12. If the election is not made by the surviving spouse personally, it may be made on…

A. The right of election of a surviving spouse and the rights of the surviving spouse to homestead allowance, exempt property, and family allowance, or any of them, may be waived, wholly or partially, before or after marriage, by a written contract, agreement, or waiver signed by…

A. Although under § 64.2-308.6 a payment, item of property, or other benefit is included in the decedent's non-probate transfers to others, a payor or other third party is not liable for having made a payment or transferred an item of property or other benefit to a beneficiary de…

Until the surviving spouse's rights in the principal family residence have been determined and satisfied by an agreement between the parties or a final court decree, in cases (i) where the principal family residence passes under the provisions of § 64.2-200 and the decedent is su…

If a parent willfully deserts or abandons his minor or incapacitated child and such desertion or abandonment continues until the death of the child, the parent shall be barred of all interest in the child's estate by intestate succession.

The interests of dower and curtesy are abolished. However, the abolition of dower and curtesy pursuant to this section shall not change or diminish the nature or right of (i) any dower or curtesy interest of a surviving spouse whose dower or curtesy vested prior to January 1, 199…

A. The surviving spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled in this state has a right of election, under the limitations and conditions stated in this article, to take an elective-share amount equal to 50 percent of the value of the marital-property portion of the augmented estate. …

A. Subject to § 64.2-308.9, the value of the augmented estate, to the extent provided in §§ 64.2-308.5, 64.2-308.6, 64.2-308.7, and 64.2-308.8, consists of the sum of the values of all property, whether real or personal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, wherever situ…

The value of the augmented estate includes the value of the decedent's probate estate, reduced by funeral and administration expenses (excluding federal or state transfer taxes), homestead allowance, family allowances, exempt property, and enforceable claims.

The value of the augmented estate includes the value of the decedent's non-probate transfers to others, not included under § 64.2-308.5, of any of the following types, in the amount provided respectively for each type of transfer: 1. Property owned or owned in substance by the de…

Excluding property passing to the surviving spouse under the federal social security system, the value of the augmented estate includes the value of the decedent's non-probate transfers to the decedent's surviving spouse, which consist of all property that passed outside probate …

A. Except to the extent included in the augmented estate under § 64.2-308.5 or 64.2-308.7, the value of the augmented estate includes the value of: 1. Property that was owned by the decedent's surviving spouse at the decedent's death, including: a. The surviving spouse's fraction…

A. The value of any property is excluded from the decedent's non-probate transfers to others: 1. To the extent that the decedent received adequate and full consideration in money or money's worth for a transfer of the property; or 2. If the property was transferred with the writt…

A. For the purposes of this section, "revocable," "settlor," "trustee," and "trust instrument" mean the same as those terms are defined in § 64.2-701. B. If a will or a trust instrument that was revocable immediately before the settlor's death refers to a written statement or lis…

A. Except as provided in subsection B, any individual may make a will to dispose of all or part of his estate at his death that, if not disposed of, would otherwise pass by intestate succession, including any estate, right, or interest that the testator may subsequently become en…

Any person that advertises any direct or indirect offer to draw any will or have any will drawn is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor, provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply to a duly licensed attorney-at-law, partnership composed of duly licensed attorneys-at-…

A. No will shall be valid unless it is in writing and signed by the testator, or by some other person in the testator's presence and by his direction, in such a manner as to make it manifest that the name is intended as a signature. B. A will wholly in the testator's handwriting …

A. Although a document, or a writing added upon a document, was not executed in compliance with § 64.2-403, the document or writing shall be treated as if it had been executed in compliance with § 64.2-403 if the proponent of the document or writing establishes by clear and convi…

A. The court may reform the terms of a decedent's will, or any codicil thereto, even if unambiguous, to conform the terms to the decedent's intention if it is proved by clear and convincing evidence that both the decedent's intent and the terms of the will were affected by a mist…

No person is incompetent to testify for or against a will solely by reason of any interest he possesses in the will or the estate of the testator.

Notwithstanding the provisions of § 64.2-403, the will of a person domiciled out of the Commonwealth at the time of his death shall be valid as to personal property in the Commonwealth if the will is executed according to the law of the state or country in which the person was so…

A. A will executed by a person while in the military service of the United States, as that term is defined in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. § 3901 et seq.), that purports on its face to be witnessed as required by § 64.2-403, upon proof of the signature of the te…

A. A person or his attorney may, during the person's lifetime, lodge for safekeeping with the clerk of the circuit court serving the jurisdiction where the person resides any will executed by such person. The clerk shall receive such will and give the person lodging it a receipt.…

A. If a testator with the intent to revoke a will or codicil, or some person at his direction and in his presence, cuts, tears, burns, obliterates, cancels, or destroys a will or codicil, or the signature thereto, or some provision thereof, such will, codicil, or provision thereo…

Any will or codicil, or any part thereof that has been revoked pursuant to § 64.2-410 shall not be revived unless such will or codicil is reexecuted in the manner required by law. Such revival operates only to the extent that the testator's intent to revive the will or codicil is…

A. For the purposes of this section, the terms "revocable," "settlor," "trust instrument," and "trustee" have the same meanings as provided in § 64.2-701. B. If, after making a will, the testator is divorced from the bond of matrimony or his marriage is annulled, the divorce or a…

Except for an act that results in the revocation of a will pursuant to this article, any conveyance or other act done subsequent to the execution of a will shall not prevent the operation of the will with respect to such interest in the estate as the testator may have power to di…

A. A will shall be construed, with reference to the real and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will. B. Every will reexecuted or republ…

A. As used in this section: "Incapacitated" means impairment by reason of mental illness, intellectual disability, physical illness or disability, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication, or other cause to the extent of lacking sufficient understanding or capacity to make or c…

A. For the purposes of this section, the terms "revocable," "settlor," "trust instrument," and "trustee" have the same meanings as provided in § 64.2-701. B. Unless a contrary intention appears in the will or trust instrument, and except as provided in § 64.2-418: 1. If a devise,…

Property that a testator gave during his lifetime to a person shall not be treated as a satisfaction of a devise or bequest to that person, in whole or in part, unless (i) the will provides for deduction of the lifetime gift, (ii) the testator declares in a writing made contempor…

A. For the purposes of this section, the terms "revocable," "settlor," "trust instrument," and "trustee" have the same meanings as provided in § 64.2-701. B. Unless a contrary intention appears in the will or trust instrument, if a beneficiary, including a beneficiary under a cla…

A. If a testator executes a will when the testator has no children, a child born or adopted after the execution of the testator's will, or any descendant of his, who is neither provided for nor mentioned in the will is entitled to such portion of the testator's estate as he would…

A. If a testator executes a will that makes provision for a living child of the testator, a child born or adopted after execution of a testator's will who is neither provided for nor expressly excluded by the will is entitled to the lesser of (i) such portion of the testator's es…

A. If property passes from the decedent or is acquired from the decedent by reason of the decedent's death under a will or trust that provides that the spouse of the decedent shall survive until the distribution of the gift, the will or trust shall be construed as requiring that …

If a testator fails to provide by will for a surviving spouse who married the testator after the execution of the will, the omitted spouse shall receive the same share of the estate such spouse would have received if the decedent left no will, unless it appears from the will or f…