A. A person or his attorney may, during the person's lifetime, lodge for safekeeping with the clerk of the circuit court serving the jurisdiction where the person resides any will executed by such person. The clerk shall receive such will and give the person lodging it a receipt. The clerk shall (i) place the will in an envelope and seal it securely, (ii) number the envelope and endorse upon it the name of the testator and the date on which it was lodged, and (iii) index the same alphabetically by name of both the testator and the executor then qualified in a permanent index that shows the number and date such will was deposited.
B. An attorney-at-law, bank, or trust company that has held a will for safekeeping for a client for at least seven years and that has no knowledge of whether the client is alive or dead after such time may lodge such will with the clerk as provided in subsection A.
C. The clerk shall carefully preserve the envelope containing the will unopened until it is returned to the testator or his nominee in the testator's lifetime upon request of the testator or his nominee in writing or until the death of the testator. If such will is returned during the testator's lifetime and is later returned to the clerk, it shall be considered to be a separate lodging under the provisions of this section.
D. Upon notice of the testator's death, the clerk shall open the will and deliver the same to any person entitled to offer it for probate.
E. The clerk shall charge a fee of $5 for lodging, indexing, and preserving a will pursuant to this section.
F. The provisions of this section are applicable only to the clerk's office of a court where the judge or judges of such court have entered an order authorizing the use of the clerk's office for such purpose.
G. The clerk may destroy any will that has been lodged in his office for safekeeping under this section for 100 years or more.
Code 1950, § 64-57.1; 1958, c. 392; 1964, c. 390; 1968, c. 656, § 64.1-56; 1970, c. 567; 2012, c. 614; 2019, c. 529; 2020, cc. 68, 589, 1063.
Structure Code of Virginia
Title 64.2 - Wills, Trusts, and Fiduciaries
§ 64.2-401. Who may make a will; what estate may be disposed of
§ 64.2-402. Advertisements to draw wills prohibited; penalty
§ 64.2-403. Execution of wills; requirements
§ 64.2-404. Writings intended as wills
§ 64.2-404.1. Reformation of will to correct mistakes or achieve decedent's tax objectives
§ 64.2-405. Interested persons as competent witnesses
§ 64.2-407. Will of personal estate of nonresidents
§ 64.2-409. Wills of living persons lodged for safekeeping with clerks of certain courts
§ 64.2-410. Revocation of wills generally
§ 64.2-411. Revival of wills after revocation
§ 64.2-413. Effect of subsequent conveyance on will
§ 64.2-414. When wills deemed to speak
§ 64.2-416. Devises, bequests, and distributions that fail; how to pass
§ 64.2-417. When advancement deemed satisfaction of devise or bequest
§ 64.2-418. When children or descendants of beneficiary to take estate or trust
§ 64.2-419. Provision for omitted children when no child living when will made
§ 64.2-420. Provision for omitted children when child living when will made
§ 64.2-421. Construction of certain conditions of spouse's survivorship
§ 64.2-422. When omitted spouse to take intestate portion
§ 64.2-424. When direction to purchase annuity binding on legatee
§ 64.2-425. Interest on pecuniary legacies
§ 64.2-427. Testamentary additions to trusts by testator dying after June 30, 1999
§ 64.2-436. Other points of form
§ 64.2-438. Effect of certificate
§ 64.2-440. Source and construction
§ 64.2-442. International will information registration
§ 64.2-443. Jurisdiction of probate of wills
§ 64.2-444. Clerks may probate wills
§ 64.2-445. Appeal from order of clerk
§ 64.2-446. Motion for probate; process against persons interested in probate
§ 64.2-447. Use of depositions
§ 64.2-448. Complaint to impeach or establish a will; limitation of action; venue
§ 64.2-449. Procedure in probate proceedings
§ 64.2-450. Probate of copy of will proved outside the Commonwealth; authenticated copy
§ 64.2-451. Appointment of curator; when made; his duties
§ 64.2-452. How will may be made self-proved; affidavits of witnesses
§ 64.2-453. How will may be made self-proved; acknowledgment of witnesses
§ 64.2-454.1. Will contest; presumption of undue influence
§ 64.2-455. Wills to be recorded; recording copies; effect; transfer to the Library of Virginia
§ 64.2-456. Bona fide purchaser of real estate without notice of devise protected
§ 64.2-457. Bona fide purchaser of real estate without notice of devise protected; later will
§ 64.2-458. Bona fide purchaser of real estate without notice of devise protected; intestacy