Chap. 158.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 6456 of the Code of Virginia,
as amended, relating to satisfaction of certain liens by marginal notations. [S 59]

Approved March 8, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section sixty-four hundred fifty-six of the Code of Virginia,
as amended, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 6456. When payment or satisfaction is made of a debt se-
cured by mortgage, deed of trust, vendor’s or mechanic's lien, or when
any one or more of the obligations representing at least twenty-five per
cent of the whole amount secured by any such lien, but less than the
whole number, of said obligations so secured, where the debt secured
thereby is evidenced by two or more separate written obligations suffhi-
ciently described in the instrument creating the lien, shall have been fully
paid, it shall be the duty of such lien creditor, unless he shall have de-
livered a proper release deed to cause such full payment or satisfaction,
or partial payment or satisfaction, as the case may be, to be entered on
the margin of the page of the book where such encumbrance is recorded ;
and for any failure so to do after five days’ notice, if the obligation, or
obligations, secured by said lien, and fully paid as aforesaid, shall be left
with the lien creditor, or with the clerk in whose office such encumbrance
is recorded, until the lien is released as provided by this section, shall
forfeit twenty dollars. Such entry of payment or satisfaction shall be
signed by the creditor or his duly authorized agent, attorney or attorney
in fact, and if such debt be evidenced by a separate obligation the note,
bond or other evidence of debt secured by such lien duly cancelled, shall
be produced before the clerk in whose office such encumbrance is re-
corded, or an affidavit shall be filed, by the said creditor, or his duly au-
thorized agent or attorney or attorney in fact, with such clerk, to the effect
that the debt therein secured gnd intended to be released or discharged
has been paid to such creditor, his agent, attorney or attorney in fact,
who was, when the said debt was so satisfied, entitled and authorized
to receive the same, and that such note, bond or other evidence of the
debt secured by the lien has been cancelled and delivered to the person
by whom it was paid or has been lost or destroyed and cannot be pro-
duced as herein required; or in the event the creditor or his duly author-
ized agent, attorney or attorney in fact is unable to make the affidavit
above referred to and after said creditor or his duly authorized agent, at-
torney or attorney in fact has executed the entry of payment or satis-
faction above referred to, an affidavit may be filed with the clerk by the
lien debtor, or such other person as may have paid the same, to the effect
that he fully paid such note, bond or other evidence of debt and that the
same was duly cancelled and delivered to him, and has been lost or de-
stroyed and cannot be produced. If such debt is not evidenced by a
separate obligation an affidavit shall be filed by the said creditor or his
duly authorized agent or attorney or attorney in fact, with such clerk
to the effect that the debt therein secured and intended to be released or
discharged has been paid to such creditor, his agent, attorney or attorney
in fact, who was when the said debt was so satisfied entitled and au-
thorized to receive the same. And when so signed and the signature
thereto attested by such clerk, with a certificate that said note, bond or
other evidence of debt duly cancelled was produced before such clerk, or
that the affidavit hereinbefore required has been duly filed with such
clerk, the same shall operate as a release of the encumbrance as to which
such payment or satisfaction is entered, and if the encumbrance be by
deed of trust or mortgage, as a reconveyance of the legal title, as fully
and effectually as if the said marginal entry were a formal deed of re-
lease duly executed and recorded.

It shall be lawful for any such lienor, upon the payment to him of a
satisfactory part of the debt secured by the lien, to make a marginal
release of any one or more of the separate pieces or parcels of property
covered by such lien, where the instrument creating the lien includes
two or more separate and sufficiently described pieces or parcels, which
partial release, or satisfaction, may be accomplished in manner and form
hereinbefore in this section provided for making marginal releases, and
when made in conformity therewith, such partial satisfaction or release
shall be as valid and binding as a proper release deed duly executed for
the same purpose.

Any and all partial marginal releases heretofore made, in any county
or city of this State, in conformity with the provisions hereinabove in
this section contained, either of one or more separate pieces or parcels of
real estate covered by any such lien, or as to one or more of the obliga-
tions secured by any such lien, are hereby validated and declared to be
binding upon all parties in interest ; but this provision shall not be con-
strued as intended to disturb or impair any vested right.

Any person who owns or has any interest in real estate or personal
property on which such encumbrance exists may, after twenty days’ notice
thereof to the person entitled to such encumbrance, apply to the circuit or
corporation court of the county or corporation in whose clerk’s office such
encumbrance is recorded, or to the chancery court of the city of Rich-
mond, if it be in the clerk’s office of the said court, to have the same
released or discharged, and upon proof that it has been paid or dis-
charged, or upon its appearing to the court that more than twenty years
have elapsed since the maturity of the lien or encumbrance, raising a
presumption of payment, and which is not rebutted at the hearing, or,
in the case of a mechanic’s lien, upon proof that no suit (as defined by
section sixty-four hundred and thirty-three of this Code) has been
brought to enforce the same within the time prescribed by this said sec-
tion; such court shall order the same to be entered by the clerk on the
margin of the page in the book wherein the encumbrance is recorded,
which entry when so made, shall operate as a release of such encum-
brance. The clerk’s fee for a release, under this section, on the margin
of the page of the book whereim the encumbrance or lien is recorded shall
be fifty cents, which shall be paid by the lien debtor.

All releases heretofore made by any court under this section upon
such presumption of payment so arising and not rebutted, shall be valt-
dated. A release of a deed of trust or a conveyance of the property em-
braced therein, may in all cases be made to the original grantor, whether
living or dead, and any release or reconveyance heretofore or hereafter
so made shall enure both in law and in equity to the successors in title
of such grantor.