Chap. 114.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 6456 of the Code of Virginia, as
last amended by an act approved February 27, 1930, in relation to marginal
releases of liens. [S B 185]

Approved March 7, 1932 |

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion sixty-four hundred and fifty-six of the Code of Virginia, as last
amended by an act approved February twenty-seventh, nineteen hun-
dred and thirty, be.amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

' Section 6456. When payment or satisfaction is made of a debt
secured 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 obli-
gations sufficiently 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 delivered a proper release deed to cause such full pay-
ment 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 pro-
duced before the clerk in whose office such encumbrance is recorded,
or an affidavit shall be filed, by the said creditor, or his duly author-
ized agent or attorney or attorney in fact, with such clerk, to the
effect that the debt therein secured and intended to be released or dis-
charged 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 that such note, bond or other evi-
dence 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 produced as herein required. 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, at-
torney or attorney in fact, who was when the said debt was so sat-
isfied entitled and authorized 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 pro-
duced before such clerk, or that the affidavit hereinbefore required
has been duly filed with such clerk, the same shall operate as a re-
lease 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 release duly executed and re-
corded.

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 mar-
ginal 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 par-
tial 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 here-
inabove 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 obligations secured by any such lien, are hereby vali-
dated and declared to be binding upon all parties in interest; but this
provision shall not be construed 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 Richmond, 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 discharged, 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 section; 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 encumbrance. The clerk’s fee for a release, under
this section, on the margin of the page of the book wherein the en-
cumberance 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
validated. A release of a deed of trust or a conveyance of the prop-
erty embraced therein, may in all cases be made to the original grant-
or, 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.