SEARCH SITE
VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL
- Code of Virginia
- Virginia Administrative Code
- Constitution of Virginia
- Charters
- Authorities
- Compacts
- Uncodified Acts
- RIS Users (account required)
SEARCHABLE DATABASES
- Bills & Resolutions
session legislation - Bill Summaries
session summaries - Reports to the General Assembly
House and Senate documents - Legislative Liaisons
State agency contacts
ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2003 SESSION
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 64.1-105 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 64.1-105. Presumption of death from absence or disappearance; in cause wherein death comes in question.
A. 1. Any person who has resided in this Commonwealth who (i) leaves, does not return to the Commonwealth for seven years successively and is not heard from; (ii) disappears for seven years successively and is not heard from; or (iii) disappears in a foreign country, whose body has not been found and who is not known to be alive, upon issuance of a report of presumptive death by the Department of State of the United States following an investigation by a competent local authority, shall be presumed to be dead. Any person not residing in this Commonwealth, but owning real or personal property herein, who disappears for seven years successively from the place of his residence outside of this Commonwealth and is not heard from, shall be presumed to be dead.
2. The presumption created by this section subsection shall arise in any cause
wherein the person's death is in question, unless proof is offered that he was alive within the time specified
or, in the case of a presumed death in a foreign country, at any time before or
after the report of presumptive death was issued.
B. The fact that any person was exposed to a specific peril of death may be a sufficient basis for determining at any time after the exposure that the person is presumed to have died less than seven years after the person was last heard from.
C. Before any final order or decree is entered in the a cause under subsection
A or B in favor of the alleged heirs, devisees or, legatees, beneficiaries, or
other successors in interest of the presumed decedent, or persons claiming by,
through or under them, or any of them, proceedings shall be held in conformity
with §§ 64.1-107 through 64.1-112.
D. The person presumed to be dead under subsection A or B, his heirs at law,
devisees, next of kin and, legatees, beneficiaries, or other successors in
interest may be made parties defendant to proceedings in respect to real or
personal property in which the person presumed dead may have an undivided interest,
by order of publication or other process as provided by law. The proceedings,
whether in the nature of partition, eminent domain or otherwise, shall not be
stayed in respect to the division, sale or other disposition of the entire
property. The sections above mentioned provisions of subsection C shall be
applicable only to the portion of the property set apart or to the share of the proceeds to which
such person would be entitled.