CHAPTER 549

An Act to amend and reenact § 63-362 of the Code of Virginia, relating
to annulments of adoption, so as to lamit the time within which such
action may be brought.

[(S 274]

Approved April 3, 1952

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
ton That § 63-362 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted as
ollows:

63-362. At any time after the entry of a final order of adoption,
the Commissioner, or the child, if twenty-one years or more of age, and
if not twenty-one years of age, then the child by its next friend, or the
parent by adoption, may petition the court which entered such order of
adoption to vacate the same and restore the former name, if the name was
changed. The court shall hear the evidence and if it appears therefrom
that a termination of such adoption and restoration of name is manifestly
right and proper, and especially if it appears to be for the best interests
of the child, the court shall vacate the final order of adoption and change
the name, and thereupon such child shall be restored, to all intents and
purposes, to the position and name which were his prior to the adoption.
Before acting upon any such petition, however, ten days’ notice in writing
shall be given to the parents by adoption, to the Commissioner, and to
the child placing agency which placed the child in the home of the parents
by adoption or consented to the adoption, if such was the case, or to such
of them as are not parties to the petition. The court shall require the child
to appear before it and give him an opportunity to express his wishes
in the matter, if such child is over fourteen years of age, although the
decision of the court need not be controlled thereby. The court shall see
that all the property rights of such child, as well as of the parents by
adoption, are protected, and may make such orders as may be proper in the
premises according to the requirements of justice.

No proceeding to regain custody of the child shall be instituted under
this section by a natural parent, or either of them, in the name of the
child by its next friend within five years, of any final order of adoption,
or appeal therefrom, or institution of annulment proceedings, in which
they were litigants.