Virginia SB 1426: Clerks of circuit courts; retention of wills lodged in clerk's office for safekeeping.

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Bill Tracking - 2019 session > Legislation 

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2019 SESSION

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19103578D

SENATE BILL NO. 1426 

Offered January 9, 2019 

Prefiled January 8, 2019 

A BILL to amend and reenact � 64.2-409 of the Code of 
 Virginia, relating to clerks of circuit courts; retention of wills for 
 safekeeping. 
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Patron-- Obenshain 

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Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice 

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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That � 64.2-409 of the Code of Virginia is amended and 
 reenacted as follows:

� 64.2-409. Wills of living persons lodged for safekeeping 
 with clerks of certain courts.

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. The 
 clerk shall (i) place the will in an envelope and seal it securely, (ii) number 
 the envelope and endorse upon it the name of the testator and the date on which 
 it was lodged, and (iii) index the same alphabetically in a permanent index 
 that shows the number and date such will was deposited.

B. An attorney-at-law, bank, or trust company that has held a 
 will for safekeeping for a client for at least seven years and that has no 
 knowledge of whether the client is alive or dead after such time may lodge such 
 will with the clerk as provided in subsection A.

C. The clerk shall carefully preserve the envelope containing 
 the will unopened until it is returned to the testator or his nominee in the 
 testator's lifetime upon request of the testator or his nominee in writing or 
 until the death of the testator. If such will is returned during the testator's 
 lifetime and is later returned to the clerk, it shall be considered to be a 
 separate lodging under the provisions of this section.

D. Upon notice of the testator's death, the clerk shall open 
 the will and deliver the same to any person entitled to offer it for probate.

E. The clerk shall charge a fee of $2 for lodging, indexing, 
 and preserving a will pursuant to this section.

F. The provisions of this section are applicable only to the 
 clerk's office of a court where the judge or judges of such court have entered 
 an order authorizing the use of the clerk's office for such purpose.

G. The clerk may 
 destroy any will that has been lodged in his office for safekeeping under this 
 section for 75 years or more.