Chap. 502.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5276 of the Code of
Virginia, as amended by an act approved February 21, 1920. {[H B 362]

Approved March 28, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion fifty-two hundred and seventy-six of the Code of Virginia, as
amended by an act approved February twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and twenty, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Sec. 5276. When and how benefits of will may be renounced and
the effect thereof—When any provision for a husband or a wife 1s
made in the consort’s will, the survivor may, within one year from
the time of the admission of the will to probate, renounce such pro-
vision. Such renunciation shall be made either in person before the
court in which the will is recorded, or by writing recorded in such
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 such renunciation 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 sur-
viving issue of the marriage which was dissolved by the death of
the consort or surviving issue of a former marriage, have one-third
of the surplus of the decedent’s personal estate mentioned in section
fifty-two hundred and seventy-three; or if no such issue survive, the
surviving consort shall have one-half of the aforesaid surplus; other-
wise the surviving consort shall have no more of the said surplus
than is given him or her by the will; provided, however, that if
any such will is of a doubtful import as to the amount or value
of the property the husband or wife of such consort is to receive
thereby or thereunder and a suit in equity is pending wherein the
said will will be construed in such respect, the court in which said
suit is pending shall, within said year, on the application of such
surviving husband or wife, if he or she, as the case may be, so de-
sire, enter an order extending the time within which such survivor
is to make such renunciation for such additional period beyond such
year as will allow said survivor reasonable time, not exceeding six
months, for making such renunciation after a final order shall have
been entered in said suit construing such will in such respect, either
by a trial court or any appellate court to which it may be appealed;
and provided further, that such survivor may, within said year, have
the right to institute and maintain any such suit for the proper con-
struction of said will in such respect.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage.