26-7.1 - Execution of fiduciary bond or appointment of agent designates clerk as attorney for service of process.
§ 26-7.1. Execution of fiduciary bond or appointment of agent designatesclerk as attorney for service of process.
A. Every person who qualifies in a court or clerk's office of thisCommonwealth as personal representative of a decedent, guardian, conservator,committee, trustee or receiver, and the surety upon any such fiduciary'sbond, shall by executing the bond required of him, be deemed to havedesignated the clerk of the court in which the qualification is had and hissuccessor in office, as the true and lawful attorney of such person upon whomservice of any notice, process or rule issuing from a court of thisCommonwealth or a commissioner of such court, of the nature hereinafter setforth, may be executed, whenever the person cannot be found and served withinthe Commonwealth of Virginia after the exercise of due diligence, providedthat the object of the proceeding relates to the proper administration ordistribution of the fiduciary estate, including a proceeding to assert aclaim against the estate or to remove the fiduciary or to obtain a personaljudgment against him and his surety, either or both, for nonfeasance,misfeasance or malfeasance in the performance of the fiduciary's duties. Theforegoing designation shall terminate and be no longer in effect when thefiduciary's final account shall "stand confirmed," as provided in § 26-33,or by order of court.
B. Every nonresident trustee who, pursuant to § 64.1-73 or § 64.1-73.1, filesa consent in writing with a clerk of circuit court that any service ofprocess or notice may be by service upon a resident of this Commonwealth atsuch address as the trustee may appoint in the written instrument filed withthe clerk shall, by filing such consent, be deemed to have designated theclerk of the court in which the consent is filed, and his successor inoffice, as the true and lawful attorney of such nonresident trustee upon whomservice of any such notice, process or rule issuing from a court of thisCommonwealth may be executed, whenever the resident appointed to receiveservice cannot be found and served within the Commonwealth after the exerciseof due diligence.
(1954, c. 601; 1997, c. 801; 2000, c. 320.)