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2005 SESSION
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 8.01-251 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 8.01-251. Limitations on enforcement of judgments.
A. No execution shall be issued and no action brought on a
judgment, including a judgment in favor of the Commonwealth and a judgment
rendered in another state or country, after twenty 20 years
from the date of such judgment, or domestication of such judgment unless
the period is extended as provided in this section.
B. The limitation prescribed in subsection A may be extended
on motion of the judgment creditor or his assignee with notice to the judgment
debtor, and an order of the circuit court of the jurisdiction in which the
judgment was entered to show cause why the period for issuance of execution or
bringing of an action should not be extended. Any such motion must shall
be filed within the twenty 20-year period from the date of the
original judgment or from the date of the latest extension thereof. If upon the
hearing of the motion the court decides that there is no good cause shown for
not extending the period of limitation, the order shall so state and the period
of limitation mentioned in subsection A shall be extended for an additional twenty
20 years from the date of filing of the motion to extend.
Additional extensions may be granted upon the same procedure, subject in each
case to the recording provisions prescribed in § 8.01-458. This extension
procedure is subject to the exception that if the action is against a personal
representative of a decedent, the motion must shall be within two
years from the date of his qualification, the extension may be for only two
years from the time of the filing of the motion, and there may be only one such
extension.
C. No suit shall be brought to enforce the lien of any
judgment, including judgments in favor of the Commonwealth, upon which the
right to issue an execution or bring an action is barred by other subsections
of this section, nor shall any suit be brought to enforce the lien of any
judgment against the lands which have been conveyed by the judgment debtor to a
grantee for value, unless the same be brought within ten 10 years
from the due recordation of the deed from such judgment debtor to such grantee
and unless a notice of lis pendens shall have been recorded in the manner
provided by § 8.01-268 before the expiration of such ten 10-year
period.
D. In computing the time, any time during which the right to sue out execution on the judgment is suspended by the terms thereof, or by legal process, shall be omitted. Sections 8.01-230 et seq., 8.01-247 and 8.01-256 shall apply to the right to bring such action in like manner as to any right.
E. The provisions of this section apply to judgments obtained after June 29, 1948, and to judgments obtained prior to such date which are not then barred by the statute of limitations, but nothing herein shall have the effect of reducing the time for enforcement of any judgment the limitation upon which has been extended prior to such date by compliance with the provisions of law theretofore in effect.
F. This section shall not be construed to impair the right of subrogation to which any person may become entitled while the lien is in force, provided he institutes proceedings to enforce such right within five years after the same accrued, nor shall the lien of a judgment be impaired by the recovery of another judgment thereon, or by a forthcoming bond taken on an execution thereon, such bond having the force of a judgment.
G. Limitations on enforcement of judgments entered in the general district courts shall be governed by § 16.1-94.1, unless an abstract of such judgment is docketed in the judgment book of a circuit court. Upon the docketing of such judgment, the limitation for the enforcement of a district court judgment is the same as for a judgment of the circuit court.
2. That § 8.01-252 of the Code of Virginia is repealed.