Chap. 523.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5346 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, in reference to the release of the right of dower of an insane wife and
the right of curtesy of an insane husband in cases of sales and encumbrances.

[H B 118]
Approved March 25, 1926.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
fifty-three hundred and forty-six of the Code of Virginia, be amended
and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 5346. How right of dower of insane wife and curtesy of
insane husband may be passed; same rights in purchase money to be
secured to her or to him, or compensation made.—If the husband of an
insane wife wish to sell or encumber real estate and to have her right
of dower therein released, or if the wife of an insane husband wish to
sell or encumber real estate and have his right of curtesy therein re-
leased, he or she, as the case may be, may petition for the purpose of
the circuit court of the county or circuit or corporation court of the
corporation in which such estate, or some part thereof, is to which
petition such insane person and his or her committee, if there be one,
shall be made parties defendant, and the court shall appoint a guardian
ad litem to such insane defendant, who, as well as such committee, if
there be one, shall answer the petition on oath; and if it appear to the
court to be proper, an order may be made for the execution of such
release by a commissioner to be appointed by the court for that pur-
pose, which release shall be effectual to pass her said right of dower or
his right of curtesy, as the case may be. But, in the case of a sale the
court shall make such order as in its opinion may be proper to secure
to the insane wife or husband, as the case may be, the same interest in
the purchase money and the income thereof that she or he would have
had in the real estate and income thereof if it had not been sold, or,
at the discretion of the court, to secure to her or to him, as the case
may be, out of the purchase money, such sum in gross as in the court’s
opinion may be sufficient to compensate her for right of dower or him
for right of curtesy. }