Virginia § 8.01-251 - Limitations on enforcement of judgments

§ 8.01-251. Limitations on enforcement of judgments

A. No execution shall be issued and no action brought on a judgment dated, extended, or renewed, prior to July 1, 2021, including a judgment in favor of the Commonwealth and a judgment rendered in another state or country, after 20 years from the date of such judgment or domestication of such judgment or 20 years from the date of such extension or renewal of such judgment, whichever is later, unless the period is extended as provided in this section. No execution shall be issued and no action brought on a judgment dated on or after July 1, 2021, including a judgment in favor of the Commonwealth and a judgment rendered in another state or country, after 10 years from the date of such judgment or domestication of such judgment, unless the period is extended as provided in this section, except that no execution shall be issued and no action brought on a judgment dated on or after July 1, 2021, that was created by nonpayment of child support after 20 years from the date of such judgment or domestication of such judgment.

B. The limitation prescribed in subsection A may be extended by the recordation of a certificate in the form provided in subsection G prior to the expiration of the limitation period prescribed herein in the clerk's office in which such judgment is recorded and executed by either the judgment creditor or his assignee or by the judgment creditor's or his assignee's attorney or authorized agent. Recordation of the certificate shall extend the limitations period of the right to enforce such judgment for 10 years from the date of the recordation of the certificate. A judgment creditor or his assignee may record one additional extension by recording another certificate in the form provided in subsection G prior to the expiration of the original 10-year extension of the limitation period, which shall extend the limitations period of the right to enforce such judgment for 10 years from the date of recordation of the second certificate.

The clerk of the court shall index the certificate in both names in the index of the judgment lien book and give reference to the book and page in which the original lien is recorded. This procedure is subject to the exception that if the action is against a personal representative of a decedent, the motion shall be within two years from the date of his qualification, the extension may be for only two years from the time of the recordation of the certificate, and there may be only one such extension.

C. No suit shall be brought to enforce the lien of any judgment, including judgments in favor of the Commonwealth, upon which the right to issue an execution or bring an action is barred by other subsections of this section, nor shall any suit be brought to enforce the lien of any judgment against the lands that have been conveyed by the judgment debtor to a grantee for value, unless the same be brought within five years from the due recordation of the deed from such judgment debtor to such grantee and unless a notice of lis pendens shall have been recorded in the manner provided by § 8.01-268 before the expiration of such five-year period.

D. In computing the time, any time during which the right to sue out execution on the judgment is suspended by the terms thereof, or by legal process, shall be omitted. §§ 8.01-230 et seq., 8.01-247 and 8.01-256 shall apply to the right to bring such action in like manner as to any right.

E. This section shall not be construed to impair the right of subrogation to which any person may become entitled while the lien is in force, provided that he institutes proceedings to enforce such right within five years after the same accrued, nor shall the lien of a judgment be impaired by the recovery of another judgment thereon, or by a forthcoming bond taken on an execution thereon, such bond having the force of a judgment.

F. Limitations on enforcement of judgments entered in the general district courts shall be governed by § 16.1-94.1, unless an abstract of such judgment is docketed in the judgment book of a circuit court. Upon docketing such judgment, such judgment shall be treated as a judgment entered by the circuit court and may be extended in the same manner as a judgment entered by the circuit court, although the original date of entry of the judgment shall remain the date that was entered by the general district court.

G. Any extension of the limitations of the right to enforce a judgment shall conform substantially with the following form:

CERTIFICATE OF EXTENSION OF LIMITATION OF RIGHT TO ENFORCE JUDGMENT LIEN

Place of Record ___________________________________________________________________________

Date Judgment Docketed ___________________________________________________________________________

Judgment Lien Book __________________ Book Page __________________

Name of Judgment Creditor(s) or Assignee(s) ___________________________________________________________________________

Address of Judgment Creditor(s) or Assignee(s) ___________________________________________________

Phone number of Judgment Creditors(s) or Assignee(s) (if available) ___________________________________________________________________________

Name of Judgment Creditor(s) or Assignee(s)' attorney or agent ___________________________________________________________________________

Address of Creditor(s) or Assignee(s)' attorney or agent ___________________________________________________________________________

Name of Debtor(s) ___________________________________________________________________________

I/we, the undersigned [ ] judgment creditor(s) [ ] agent of judgment creditor(s) [ ] attorney for judgment creditor(s), do hereby certify that the aforementioned judgment lien be extended 10 years from the date of my/our endorsement upon this certificate.

[ ] Judgment creditor(s) or assignee(s) [ ] agent of judgment creditor(s) or assignee(s) [ ] attorney for judgment creditor(s) or assignee(s): ________________

Commonwealth of Virginia

County/City of ____________________

Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by

_______________, this _____ day of ________, 20 _____

My Commission expires: ____________________

Notary Public: ____________________

Code 1950, §§ 8-393, 8-394, 8-396, 8-397; 1956, c. 512; 1958, c. 221; 1960, c. 274; 1977, c. 617; 1983, c. 499; 2002, c. 394; 2005, cc. 139, 203; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 486; 2022, c. 324.