Virginia Code 55.1-2532: Filing claim to property or proceeds of sale of such property.
A. Any person claiming an interest in any property delivered to the Commonwealth under this chapter may file a claim to such property or to the proceeds from the sale of such property on a form prescribed by the administrator.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 55.1-2532
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
B. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person claiming an interest in any property delivered to the Commonwealth under this chapter for a reported owner who is deceased shall submit evidence of the claimant’s entitlement to payment together with a form prescribed by the administrator. In order of preference, such evidence may include (i) a certificate of qualification as the executor or an order of appointment as the administrator or personal representative of the decedent‘s estate under the laws of the state of the decedent’s domicile; (ii) if applicable, an affidavit authorizing the claimant to be the designated successor under the Virginia Small Estate Act (§ 64.2-600 et seq.), or its equivalent under the laws of the state of the decedent’s domicile that names the claimant as the designated successor; or (iii) the order of distribution or the final accounting for a closed estate that reflects payment due in whole or in part to the claimant. When, in the absence of any such evidence, (a) the death of the reported owner occurred at least one year prior to filing the claim and (b) the amount claimed is $25,000 or less, exclusive of any interest owed pursuant to subsection C of § 55.1-2533, the administrator may allow the claimant to submit an affidavit stating the claimant’s entitlement to payment in the absence of sufficient documentation, and the administrator may approve the claim in his discretion, returning or paying all or the appropriate share of the deceased owner’s property to the claimant. The administrator may pay or deliver all of the deceased owner’s property to a claimant who submits the prescribed affidavit evidencing his agreement to receive and distribute the property to the other rightful heirs or beneficiaries and acknowledging his assumption of liability to those beneficiaries or heirs for failure to do so.
C. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when paying or delivering unclaimed property under subsection B to a claimant who is not authorized to represent the decedent’s estate as the personal representative or the designated successor or the equivalent, the administrator is discharged and released to the same extent as if the administrator dealt with the authorized representative or designated successor for the decedent’s estate. The administrator shall deny any subsequent claim to the same property. Any person subsequently claiming an equal or superior right to the deceased owner’s property whose claim is denied by the administrator for this reason may seek redress from the claimant to whom payment was made.
D. The administrator shall develop and make available a plain English explanation of a person’s right to make a claim, in accordance with the provisions of this section, for property delivered to the Commonwealth in cases where the reported owner of the property is deceased. The administrator shall also post such document on the Department of the Treasury’s website.
1960, c. 330, § 55-210.20; 2016, cc. 350, 529; 2019, c. 712.