Chap. 230.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled, “An act in relation
to a surviving husband’s curtesy,” approved March 28, 1922, as amended by
chapter 345 of the acts of assembly of 1924. [S B 66]

Approved March 24, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
entitled “An act in relation to a surviving husband’s curtesy,” approved
March twenty-eight, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, as amended by
chapter three hundred and forty-five of the acts of assembly of nine-
teen hundred and twenty-four, be amended and re-enacted so as to read
as follows:

Section 1. A surviving husband shall be entitled to an estate by
the curtesy in one-third of all the real estate whereof his wife, or any
other to her use, was, at any time, during the coverture, seized in fact
or in law of an estate of inheritance, unless his right to such curtesy
shall have been lawfully barred or relinquished; but if she die wholly
intestate and without issue of the marriage which was dissolved by her
death or of a former marriage, her surviving husband shall be entitled
to an estate by the curtesy in one-third of such real estate, as afore-
said, and, in addition thereto, subject to the rights of his wife’s credi-
tors, in all the residue of such real estate of his wife; or if she die
partially intestate and without any such issue, her surviving husband
shall be entitled to an estate by the curtesy in one-third of such real
estate, as aforesaid, and, in addition thereto, subject to the rights of
his wife’s creditors and after the rights of the devisee or devisees under
his wife’s will shall have been fully satisfied, in all the residue, if any,
of such real estate. The fact that the husband conveyed, or caused
to be conveyed, the real estate to the wife, or to her use, shall not bar
his curtesy therein, nor shall it be a requisite to curtesy that the wife
shall have had a child born alive during the coverture; and when a wife,
or any other to her use, shall have been entitled to a right of entry or
action in any land, and her surviving husband would be entitled to
curtesy in the same if the wife or such other had recovered possession
thereof, he shall be entitled to such curtesy, although there shall have
been no such recovery of possession. A surviving husband, however,
shall not be entitled to curtesy in his wife’s equitable separate estate if
his right thereto be expressly excluded by the instrument creating the
same. If the surviving husband be not entitled to an estate by the cur-
tesy in the whole estate, a court of equity, on bill filed by him, his guard-
lan or committee, shall have jurisdiction to assign curtesy in any case
where any of the parties interested are under disability or for any other
reason no agreement between them can be made or reached. Curtesy
may also be assigned or recovered in the same manner and by similar
proceedings provided for the assignment or recovery of dower by sec-
tions fifty-one hundred and twenty-five, fifty-one hundred and twenty-
six and fifty-one hundred and twenty-seven of the Code; provided, that
sections fifty-one hundred and twenty-six and fifty-one hundred and
twenty-seven, as applied to this section, shall be subject to this qualifica-
tion, that on the application of a person claiming under an alienation
made under decree of court, or by the wife in her life time, a court of
equity may grant such applicant relief from such recovery on terms of
his paying to the husband during his life, lawful interest from the com-
mencement of his suit, on the value, at the time of the wife’s death.
of such proportional part of the real estate so aliened, as the said
husband would be entitled to have for his life, as tenant by the curtesy,
deducting the value of such permanent improvements then existing on
said real estate, as may have been made after the alienation, by the
alienee or his assigns, and provided, further, that, in a suit in equity
brought by a surviving husband or any other person to have curtesy
assigned, if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court, from the
report of commissioners, or otherwise, that curtesy cannot be laid off
in kind, the court may make a decree, requiring the heirs at law,
or devisees, or creditors of the deceased wife, who may be entitled
to the real estate subject to such curtesy, or their assigns, to pay to
the said husband during his life and in such instalments and on such
terms as the court may deem proper, what may be ascertained, by
proper inquiry, to be the fair net annual value of such proportional
part of said real estate as he would be entitled to have for his life, as
tenant by the curtesy, such net annual value to constitute a lien on all
of said real estate, which may be enforced, in case of default, in the
same suit, or in an independent suit brought for the purpose; pro-
vided that said court may, from time to time, upon the application of
any interested party, of which all other parties in interest shall be
given reasonable notice, change and adjust said fair net annual value
to conform to the true conditions as of the time of said application:
provided, further, that the person or persons so required to pay such
net annual value, may, at his further election, turn over and deliver the
possession of such real estate in its entirety to a receiver, to be ap-
pointed by the court, who shall rent out the same and from the rentals
received by him pay, first the taxes, reasonable insurance premiums
and repairs on the property, and the balance to such person or per-
sons, and to such surviving husband, in the proportion in which sucn
yerson or persons and such surviving husband are interested in such
‘eal estate.