CHAPTER 399

An Act to amend and reenact § 37-141, as amended, of the Code of Virginia,
relating to trustees for incomnetent ex-service persons and trustees
for the incompetent beneficiaries of ex-service persons.

re fie fara
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 37-141, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted as follows: "

§ 37-141. Whenever any former soldier, sailor or marine, or other
ex-service person of the United States, or beneficiary of any ex-service
person is found to be incompetent by the medical authorities of the Vet-
erans’ Administration, on motion of the Veterans’ Administration or any
person in interest, accompanied by a certificate of the Administrator of
Veterans’ Affairs or his duly authorized representative, certifying that
such person has been rated incompetent by the Veterans’ Administration,
and that the appointment of a trustee is a condition precedent to the pay-
ment of any moneys due such ex-service person or any beneficiary of such
ex-service person, after reasonable notice to such person, the circuit court
of the county or the corporation or hustings court of the city of which such
ex-service person or beneficiary of such ex-service person is a legal resident,
or such other courts in such city as have jurisdiction to appoint committees
for mentally-ill persons, or the judges thereof in vacation, except that the
Chancery Court of the City of Richmond or the judge thereof in vacation
shall have exclusive jurisdiction of such matters under this section for any
person who resides in that part of the City of Richmond which lies on the
north side of the James River, in lieu of appointing a committee, or ad-
judging such ex-service person, or beneficiary of such ex-service person,
mentally-ill, shall appoint a trustee for such ex-service person, or beneficiary
of such ex-service person, where it appears to the court that a trustee is
needed for the purpose of receiving and administering such benefits of
pension, compensation or insurance as might be paid by the United States
government. Upon his qualification, such trustee, in addition to administer-
ing the funds payable through the Veterans’ Administration, shall ad-
minister the entire estate of such ex-service person or beneficiary of such
ex-service person regardless of the source from which it is derived, and
in such administration shall have the same powers and duties and be sub-
ject to the same liabilities as are vested in or imposed upon a committee in
the administration of his ward’s estate. Such trustee, in addition to such
duties and obligations imposed upon him under his trust by the federal
government, shall be subject to such State laws as are now in force or
hereafter enacted applicable to the appointment and administration of
committees for mentally ill persons.

Any person for whom a trustee has been appointed under the pro-
visions of this section may thereafter be adjudged competent by the court
or judge thereof in vacation which appointed the trustee.