64.1-179 - Order to creditors to show cause against distribution of estate to legatees or distributees; their liability to refund.
§ 64.1-179. Order to creditors to show cause against distribution of estateto legatees or distributees; their liability to refund.
When a report of the accounts of any personal representative and of the debtsand demands against his decedent's estate has been filed in the office of aclerk of a court, whether under §§ 64.1-171 and 64.1-172 or in a civilaction, the court, after six months from the qualification of the personalrepresentative, may, on motion of the personal representative, or a successoror substitute personal representative, or on motion of a legatee ordistributee of his decedent, make an order for the creditors and all otherpersons interested in the estate of the decedent to show cause on some day tobe named in the order against the payment and delivery of the estate of thedecedent to his legatees or distributees. A copy of the order shall bepublished once a week for two successive weeks, in one or more newspapers, asthe court directs. On or after the day named in the order, the court mayorder the payment and delivery to the legatees or distributees of the wholeor a part of the money and other estate not before distributed, with orwithout a refunding bond, as it prescribes. However, every legatee ordistributee to whom any such payment or delivery is made, and hisrepresentatives, may, in a suit brought against him within five yearsafterward, be adjudged to refund a due proportion of any claims enforceableagainst the decedent or his estate which have been finally allowed by thecommissioner of accounts or the court, or which were not presented to thecommissioner of accounts, and the costs attending their recovery. In theevent any claim shall become known to the fiduciary after the notice fordebts and demands but prior to the entry of an order of distribution, theclaimant, if the claim is disputed, shall be given notice in the formprovided in § 64.1-171 and the order of distribution shall not be entereduntil after expiration of 10 days from the giving of such notice. If theclaimant shall, within such 10-day period, indicate his desire to pursue theclaim, the commissioner shall schedule a date for hearing the claim and forreporting thereon if action thereon is contemplated under § 64.1-171.
Any such personal representative who has in good faith complied with theprovisions of this section and has, in compliance with or, as subsequentlyapproved by, the order of the court, paid and delivered the money or otherestate in his hands to whomsoever the court has adjudged entitled theretoshall be fully protected against the demands of creditors and all otherpersons.
Any such personal representative who has in good faith complied with theprovisions of this section and has, in compliance with, or as subsequentlyapproved by, the order of the court, paid and delivered the money or otherestate in his hands to whomsoever the court has adjudged entitled thereto,even if such distribution shall be prior to the expiration of the period ofone year provided in § 64.1-13, 64.1-89, 64.1-96 or 64.1-151.5, shall befully protected against the demands of spouses, persons seeking to impeachthe will or establish another will, or purchasers of real estate from thepersonal representative, provided that the personal representative shall havecontacted any surviving spouse known to it having rights of renunciation andascertained that he had no plan to renounce the will, such intent to bestated in writing in the case of renunciation under § 64.1-13, and that thepersonal representative shall not have been notified in writing of anyperson's intent to impeach the will or establish a later will in the case ofpersons claiming under § 64.1-89 or 64.1-96 or under a later will.
In the case of such distribution prior to the expiration of such one-yearperiod, the personal representative shall take refunding bonds, withoutsurety, to the next of kin or legatees to whom distribution is made, toprotect against the contingencies specified in this and the precedingparagraphs. The cost of such publication shall be paid by the petitioner orapplicant.
(Code 1950, § 64-169; 1966, c. 335; 1968, c. 656; 1980, c. 439; 1982, c. 588;1989, c. 492; 1991, c. 527; 1996, c. 352; 2005, c. 681.)