Chap. 231.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5125 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, concerning the assignment of dower, as heretofore amended. [S B 67]

Approved March 24, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
fifty-one hundred and twenty-five of the Code of Virginia, as hereto-
fore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 5125. Dower may be assigned as at common law; or upon
the motion of the widow, heirs, devisees, or alienees, or any of them,
the court in which or in the clerk’s office of which the will of the
husband is admitted to record or administration of his estate is granted
or the conveyance of the alienee is recorded, may appoint commis-
sioners, by whom the dower may be assigned, and the assignment,
when confirmed by the court, shall have the same effect as if made by
the heir at common law; but nothing herein contained shall be con-
strued to take away or affect the jurisdiction which courts of chancery
now exercise on the subject of dower; and provided further, that in
a suit in equity brought by a widow or any other person, for the pur-
pose of having dower assigned, if it shall appear to the satisfaction
of the court, from the report of commissioners, or otherwise, that
dower can not be laid off in kind, the court may make a decree requir-
ing the heirs at law, or devisees, or creditors of the deceased husband,
who may be entitled to the real estate subject to such dower, or their
assigns, to pay to the said widow during her life and on such terms in
such instalments and as the court may deem proper, what may be as-
certained, by proper inquiry, to be the fair net annual value of such
proportional part of said real estate as she would be entitled to have
for her life, as tenant in dower, such net annual value to constitute a
lien on all of said real estate, enforceable in case of default in pay-
ment, in the same suit, or in an independent suit brought for the pur-
pose; provided that the said court may, from time to time, upon the
application of any interested party, of which all other parties in inter-
est 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 receivet
to be appointed 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 property, and the balance to such persor
or persons, and to such widow in the proportion in which such persor
or persons and such widow are interested in such real estate.