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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2010 SESSION
Edwards (Chairman), Quayle, Lucas, Puller, Obenshain, Saslaw, Petersen
Clerk: Angi Murphy
Date of Meeting: February 18, 2010
Time and Place: 4:00 p.m., 4th Floor East Conference Room
Patron: Marshall, R.G.
Domestic relations; self-incrimination; adverse inference. Provides that in actions filed on or after July 1, 2010, for spousal support, custody, or visitation under Title 16.1 or for divorce or separate maintenance filed under Title 20, the court may draw an adverse inference against any party or witness who refuses to answer a question regarding conduct constituting adultery, sodomy, or buggery outside of marriage, or fornication on the ground that the testimony might be self-incriminating. This bill incorporates HB 67.
Patron: Cole
Testamentary trustees; relief of duty to file an inventory or annual accounts. Provides that any trustee under a will of a decedent probated on or after July 1, 2010, shall be relieved of the duty to file an inventory or annual accounts with the commissioner of accounts if the will of the decedent does not direct the filing of such inventory and accounts and the trustee (i) obtains the written consent of all adult beneficiaries, other than the trustee, to whom income or principal of the trust could be currently distributed, after providing those beneficiaries with the documents and information specified in subsection A; (ii) obtains the written consent of the representative of all incapacitated beneficiaries, other than the trustee, to whom income or principal of the trust could be currently distributed, after providing those representatives with the documents and information specified in subsection A; and (iii) files those consents with the commissioner on or before the date on which the inventory or next required accounting would otherwise be due.
Patron: Toscano
Child and spousal support; vocational experts. Allows a court to appoint a vocational expert to conduct an evaluation of a party in cases involving child support, spousal support, and separate maintenance where the earning capacity, unemployment, or underemployment of a party is in controversy. The court may award costs or fees for the evaluation and the services of the expert at any time during the proceedings.
Patron: Knight
Compensation of condemnation jurors. Equalizes the pay of jurors in condemnation cases with that of regular jurors. Currently, regular jurors are paid $30 per day once summoned and appearing for jury duty, and condemnation jurors are paid $60 per day only if they are empanelled on the jury. This bill would pay each juror $30 per day for being summoned and appearing, whether for regular jury service or for service as a condemnation juror.
Patron: Loupassi
Appeal bonds; unlawful detainer; indigents. Adds unlawful detainer cases against a former owner based upon a foreclosure against that owner to the list of actions for which an indigent must post an appeal bond. In cases of unlawful detainer against a former owner based upon a foreclosure against that owner, a person who has been determined to be indigent shall post an appeal bond within 30 days from the date of judgment.
Patron: Loupassi
Security for appeal; modification. Provides that a court may impose additional requirements to security posted for an appeal in addition to altering the amount of the security. Any changes may be made to such security by a court for good cause shown. The bill also provides that the surety on any bond shall be an insurance company that is authorized to write such bonds in the Commonwealth and is rated A plus or better by Best's Insurance Reports. The bill also clarifies that motions for and objections to any modification of security may be made either to the appellate court or the court whose decision is being appealed until such time as the appellate court acts. The bill also provides that individual judges of the Supreme Court, instead of a panel, may make determinations on issues regarding security for appeal. Currently, only individual judges of the Court of Appeals are permitted to make such determinations. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Patron: Dance
Interpleader of real estate escrows. Establishes that suits in interpleader of real estate escrows shall go to General District Court, and protects escrow funds in the event of a real estate foreclosure. This bill is recommended by the Virginia Housing Commission.
Patron: Watts
Small Estate Act; revision. Revises the Small Estate Act by repealing related provisions in the Title 6.1 (Banking and Finance), Title 51.1 (Pensions, Benefits, and Retirement), and Title 64.1 (Wills and Decedents' Estates) and consolidating them in the Act. The bill also allows that a person holding a small asset belonging to a decedent may pay or deliver the asset to a designated successor if he presents an affidavit on behalf of the other known successors if the value of the asset does not exceed $50,000 and other conditions are met. The person holding the asset may pay or deliver it without being presented with an affidavit if the value of the asset does not exceed $15,000. A designated successor who received an asset has a fiduciary duty to other successors to safeguard the asset and pay or deliver it to other successors as required by law. The bill also provides that a person holding a small asset may pay or deliver up to $3,500 of the asset for the handling of the funeral of the decedent.
Patron: Lewis
Service by publication. Validates orders of publication processed by a clerk prior to July 1, 2010, for service in certain actions.
Patron: Lewis
Equitable distribution; monetary award; enforcement. Clarifies that a monetary award made in a divorce case is enforceable in the same manner as any other money judgment.
Patron: Lingamfelter
Civil immunity for local government officers, etc.; notarial acts. Provides that an officer, employee, or volunteer of a local government who is a commissioned notary public and is required to perform notarial acts, without compensation, as a condition of his service with the local government, shall not be liable for civil damages for acts or omissions resulting from the performance of such acts in the absence of gross negligence or willful misconduct.
Patron: Armstrong
Use of commissioners in eminent domain cases. Reinstates the option of the landowner to choose between commissioners and juries to hear an eminent domain case. The option to choose commissioners was eliminated by Chapter 586 of the 2006 Acts of Assembly. The provisions of this bill apply only to actions filed after July 1, 2010.
Patron: Peace
Releases of deed of trust. Allows certain title insurance companies to exercise the authority that settlement agents currently possess to release the lien of a deed of trust. References to "mortgage" are replaced with "deed of trust." The measure also authorizes a settlement agent to release a deed of trust lien upon written confirmation from the lien creditor that such obligation has a zero balance. The procedure for lien releases by settlement agent and title insurance companies is limited to transactions involving real estate that is either unimproved with a lien amount not exceeding $1 million or containing one to four residential dwelling units. The measure also eliminates a duplicative provision addressing a settlement agent's ability to obtain an assignment of the $500 penalty imposed for a lender's failure to release a lien within the prescribed period.
Patron: Peace
Uniform Power of Attorney Act (UPOAA). Establishes in the Code of Virginia the Uniform Act that was adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2006. The UPOAA consists of default rules that can be modified if the principal desires. Powers of attorney will be durable unless drafted to expire upon a specified date or event. The UPOAA addresses creation and use, good faith reliance, limitations of agent's powers, refusal to recognize, judicial review, notification of resignation, and other matters. The UPOAA contains an optional statutory form that may be used by an agent to certify facts concerning a power of attorney.
Patron: Janis
Wills and trusts; formula clauses referring to federal estate and generation-skipping transfer tax laws; application. Provides that a formula for calculating transfers or devises based on federal estate or generation-skipping transfer tax law contained in a will or trust of a decedent who dies after December 31, 2009, and before January 1, 2011, shall be construed to refer to the tax law applicable on December 31, 2009. The bill is intended to address the consequences of the repeal of the federal estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes with respect to estates and taxable transfers occurring after December 31, 2009, and before January 1, 2011. The bill contains an emergency clause and its provisions will also be effective retroactive to December 31, 2009.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Howell, A.T.
Eminent domain; application to Norfolk. Extends the expiration date, from July 1, 2010, to December 31, 2010, for the exemption to requirements applicable to the exercise of the power of eminent domain by the City of Norfolk or the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority. The exemption was created in the 2007 legislation that, among other things, established limitations on what constituted a public use for which private property could be acquired by exercise of the power of eminent domain.
Patron: Griffith
Homestead deeds for personal property; previous filings. Adds to the homestead deed for personal property form the following questions: (i) how many homestead deeds has the householder filed previously, (ii) what was the amount of the exemption, and (iii) what jurisdiction were they in.
Patron: Griffith
Actions or suits involving fiduciaries; style of the case; amendment of pleading. Provides that in any action or suit required to be prosecuted or defended by or in the name of a fiduciary, the style of the case in regard to the fiduciary must be substantially in the following form: "(Name of the subject of the fiduciary relationship) through (Name of fiduciary), (type of fiduciary relationship)." Failure to comply with this form does not affect the validity of any judgment or pleading, and pleadings that are not in the proper form shall be amended on the motion of any party or on the court's own motion. The provisions of the bill apply to any action or suit pending as of the effective date of the bill.
Patron: LeMunyon
Jurors to provide photo identification. Provides that upon the request of a counsel of record or the clerk of the court, a juror, prior to being selected from the jury venire, shall verify his identity by presenting any of the following forms of identification: his Commonwealth of Virginia voter registration card; his social security card; his valid Virginia driver's license or any other identification card issued by a government agency of the Commonwealth, one of its political subdivisions, or the United States; or any valid employee identification card containing a photograph of the juror and issued by an employer of the juror in the ordinary course of the employer's business. If the juror is unable to present one of the forms of identification, he shall sign a statement, under penalty of perjury, stating whether or not he is the named juror.
Patron: Barlow
Probate; list of heirs. Provides that the list of heirs that must be filed with the clerk of court when a personal representative for a decedent's estate seeks to qualify or a will is submitted to probate shall reflect the heirs in existence on the date of the decedent's death. If there have been any changes as to who should be included on the list of heirs between the date of the decedent's death and the time the list is filed, an additional list of heirs shall be filed that includes such changes.