CHAPTER 188

An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered
46.1-68.1, relating to the issuance of certificates of title and registra-
tion cards for vehicles to certain joint owners.

[S 521]

Approved March 138, 1968

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia be amended by adding a section numbered
46.1-68.1, as follows:

§ 46.1-68.1. The Division upon receiving an application for a certi-
ficate of title for a motor vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer, to be issued in the
names of two natural persons who are husband and wife, jointly with
right of survivorship shall issue to the owners thereof a certificate of title
accordingly. Any such certificate issued in the name of two persons who
are husband and wife may contain an expression such as “or the survivor
of them,” which shall be deemed sufficient to create joint ownership during
the lives of the two owners, and individual ownership in the survivor. A
certificate issued in the names of two persons who are husband and wife,
with their names separated only by the disjunctive pronoun “or’’ (such
as, for example, “John Jones or Mary Jones,’’) shall be deemed to be the
substantial equivalent of a certificate issued to them or to the survivor
of them (such as for example, “John Jones or Mary Jones, or the survivor
of them’). Whenever, in this Article, the word “owner” appears, it shall
be deemed to include both of such joint owners during their lives, and
the survivor of them.

Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the issuance of certifi-
cate of title in the names of two or more persons as owners in common;
and the issuance of a certificate in the names of two or more persons,
conjunctively, shall be deemed to be sufficient evidence of ownership of
undivided interests in such vehicle nor shall anything herein be construed
to grant immunity from enforcement of any liability of any person owning
such vehicle, as one of two joint owners, to the extent of his interest
in the vehicle, during the joint lives of the owners thereof.