64.1-111 - Grant of order; effect. - Virginia Statutes

§ 64.1-111. Grant of order; effect.

A. If the evidence at the hearing required by § 64.1-110 shows the length ofabsence to be 10 years or more or if within the period of two weeks afterpublication of the order on the hearing aforesaid evidence satisfactory tothe court of the continuance in life of the supposed decedent shall not beforthcoming, the court shall enter its order determining that the supposeddecedent is in fact dead and proceed to admit any will to probate or issueletters of administration to the party entitled thereto or order that theclaim of the heirs at law, devisees, next of kin, legatees, beneficiaries,survivors, or other successors in interest of the person presumed dead beestablished, as the case may be, and until the order is revoked, all actsdone in pursuance thereof and in reliance thereon, shall be as valid as ifthe supposed decedent were really dead.

B. The court's order determining a person to be dead shall state the person'sdate of death to be:

1. The date of the expiration of the seven-year period in a proceedinggoverned by subsection A of § 64.1-105, except that in a proceeding governedby clause (iii) of subsection A of § 64.1-105 it shall be the date of theDepartment of State's issuance of a report of presumptive death unless theevidence shows the likelihood of death at an earlier date;

2. The date of the person's exposure to the specific peril of death in aproceeding governed by subsection B of § 64.1-105; or

3. The date of the person's disappearance in a proceeding governed bysubsection C of § 64.1-105.

C. A certified copy of the court's order determining that the supposeddecedent is in fact dead shall be accepted as proof of death in allsituations in which a certificate of death issued by the State Registrar ofVital Records of the Virginia Department of Health would have been acceptedas such proof.

(Code 1950, § 64-107; 1968, c. 656; 2006, c. 351.)