Virginia Code 6.2-611: Liability of surviving party for debts and other liabilities of decedent’s estate.
A. If the assets of a deceased party‘s estate, other than the assets in a multiple-party account, are not sufficient to pay the debts, taxes, and expenses of estate administration, including statutory allowances to the surviving spouse, minor children, and dependent children, no transfer of account funds, to which the deceased party was beneficially entitled immediately before his death, shall be effective, by virtue of a party’s survivorship of the decedent, against the estate of such deceased party to the extent such funds are needed to pay such liabilities of the estate.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 6.2-611
- Account: means a contract of deposit of funds between a depositor and a financial institution, and includes a checking account, savings account, certificate of deposit, share account, and other similar arrangements. See Virginia Code 6.2-604
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Financial institution: means any entity authorized to do business under state or federal laws relating to financial institutions that is authorized to establish accounts, including, without limitation, banks, trust companies, savings institutions, and credit unions. See Virginia Code 6.2-604
- Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
- Multiple-party account: means any of the following types of account: (i) a joint account, (ii) a P. See Virginia Code 6.2-604
- Party: means a person who, by the terms of the account, has a present right, subject to request, to payment from a multiple-party account, including a fiduciary account. See Virginia Code 6.2-604
- 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
- Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
B. A surviving party, P.O.D. payee, or beneficiary who receives payment from a multiple-party account after the death of a deceased party shall be liable to account to his personal representative for amounts the decedent owned beneficially immediately before his death to the extent necessary to discharge the claims and charges described in subsection A that remain unpaid after application of the decedent’s estate. No proceeding to assert this liability shall be commenced (i) unless the personal representative has received a written demand by a surviving spouse, a creditor, or one acting for a minor or dependent child of the decedent and (ii) later than two years following the death of the decedent. Sums recovered by the personal representative shall be administered as part of the decedent’s estate.
C. This section shall not affect the right of a financial institution to make payment on multiple-party accounts according to the terms thereof, or make it liable to the estate of a deceased party unless, before payment, the institution has been served with process in a proceeding by the personal representative.
1979, c. 407, § 6.1-125.8; 2010, c. 794.