Chap. 330.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 5276 of the Code of Virginia,
as amended, relating to renunciation of wills and its effect, so as to conform
to Section 5273 as to adopted children. [S 237]

Approved March 29, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That section fifty-two hundred seventy-six of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as amended, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:
Section 5276. When and how benefit of will may be renounced and
the effect thereof —When any provision for a husband or wife is made in
the consort’s will, the survivor may, within one year from the time of the
admission of the will to probate, renounce the provision. The renuncia-
tion shall be made either in person before the court in which the will is
recorded, or by writing recorded in the court, or the clerk’s office thereof,
upon such acknowledgment or proof as would authorize a writing to be
admitted to record under chapter two hundred and eleven. If renuncia-
tion be made, or if no provision for the surviving husband or wife be
made in the will of the decedent, the surviving consort shall, if the
decedent left surviving any direct descendants or a legally adopted child,
or descendants of any deceased adopted child, have one-third of the
surplus of the decedent’s personal estate mentioned in section fifty-two
hundred and seventy-three; or if no direct descendants or adopted child
of the testator, or descendants of a deceased adopted child, survive, the
surviving consort shall have one-half of the surplus; otherwise the sur-
viving consort shall have no more of the surplus than is given him or her
by the will; provided that if the will is of doubtful import as to the amount
or value of the property the husband or wife of the testator is to receive
thereunder and a suit in equity is pending wherein it will be construed in
that respect, the court in which the suit is pending shall, within the year,
on the application of the surviving husband or wife, enter an order extend-
ing the time within which the survivor is to make renunciation for such
additional period beyond the year as will allow the survivor reasonable
time, not exceeding six months, for making the renunciation after a final
order has been entered in the suit construing the will in such respect,
either by a trial court or any appellate court to which it is appealed ; and
provided further that the survivor shall have the right, within six months
after the expiration of the year, whether heretofore or hereafter, to insti-
tute and maintain a suit for the proper construction of the will, and in
the suit, upon application of the surviving consort, the court shall, by an
order entered therein, provide that the surviving consort shall be allowed
not exceeding one month for renunciation after final decree has been
entered in the suit construing the will. 5p

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