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MORTL → State Guides → Virginia
State Guide
What Virginia law actually says about death, probate, cremation, advance directives, and estate taxes. No legal jargon. No upselling. Just what you need to know.
Someone just died in Virginia? The first 24 hours, step by step →
Guide Status
● Last reviewed August 2026
Laws change. Each section shows when it was last verified. Always confirm with a licensed Virginia attorney for your specific situation.
This is general information, not legal advice. Virginia law changes. Your situation is specific. For anything that matters, talk to a licensed Virginia attorney. Our directory doesn't list attorneys, so you'll find one on your own.
The short answer
In Virginia, estates under $75,000 can skip full probate through a simplified process or affidavit. Cremation has no statutory waiting period. There's no Virginia estate or inheritance tax. Every figure below names its source and the date it was checked.
Reviewed August 2026 · Virginia
Someone just died in Virginia: the first 24 hours →Verified providers in Virginia →
Last verified: August 7, 2026
Source: Va. Code 32.1-263 (Virginia Vital Records) ↗At a Glance
File within 3 days · Restricted for 25 years · Then public
In Virginia, a death certificate must be filed within 3 days of death and before the body is buried or cremated. The funeral director prepares the certificate; the attending physician certifies the cause of death. (Va. Code 32.1-263)
Ask each bank, insurer, court, agency, and property office whether it requires a certified copy. Order an initial quantity based on those actual needs, and confirm the current fee and process for ordering more.
The licensed funeral director, funeral service licensee, or next of kin who first assumes custody of the body completes the certificate and files it electronically. The physician or autonomous nurse practitioner in charge of the patient's care must complete and file the medical certification through the Electronic Death Registration System within 24 hours after death. (Va. Code 32.1-263(B), (C))
Immediate family members, legal representatives, and persons with a direct and tangible interest can order certified copies.
Order certified copies from Virginia's vital records office; this section's source link is the official process. The funeral home or cremation provider usually orders the first copies for you. Ask each bank, insurer, court, and agency whether it needs its own certified copy before you decide how many to order.
$15 per certified copy in Virginia, as shown above. Additional-copy pricing varies; the official source linked in this section has the current fee schedule.
Last verified: August 9, 2026
Source: Va. Code Title 64.2 (Wills, Trusts, and Fiduciaries); § 64.2-601 (Virginia Small Estate Act) ↗At a Glance
Small estate threshold vs. national average
Virginia's Small Estate Act lets the successors collect a decedent's assets with an affidavit instead of qualifying a personal representative. Three conditions: the decedent's entire personal probate estate, wherever located, doesn't exceed $75,000; at least 60 days have passed since the death; and no application for a personal representative is pending or has been granted anywhere. The limit was raised from $50,000 effective July 1, 2025 (2025 Acts ch. 148). The affidavit reaches personal property, not real estate. (Va. Code 64.2-601)
Virginia sets no total probate deadline. The fiduciary files the inventory within four months of qualification and the first accounting within 16 months, and the court system's own pamphlet says a first and final accounting can often be made at the end of the first year. The Circuit Court in the city or county where the deceased lived oversees the process.
Source: Probate in Virginia (Virginia Judicial System pamphlet) ↗
Virginia intestate succession (Va. Code 64.2-200) determines who inherits:
Only assets owned solely by the deceased without beneficiary designations. Joint tenancy property, accounts with named beneficiaries, and life insurance pass outside probate automatically.
A straightforward Virginia probate typically runs often ~1 yr, as shown in this section. Contested wills, missing heirs, or real property in other states stretch it well past that.
$75,000. Estates under that figure can use the simplified process or affidavit covered above instead of full probate.
Not always. If the estate qualifies for the simplified process covered above, many people handle it without a lawyer. Hire one for full probate, a contested will, or property in more than one state. Before you hire anyone, know the fee structures: hourly, flat, and (in a few states) statutory percentages. Our probate attorney cost guide covers what each should run you.
No will yet, or one that's out of date? How to write a will covers what belongs in one and the signing requirements, step by step. The rules on this page are what Virginia law adds.
Yes. Virginia authorizes the transfer on death deed under Va. Code sections 64.2-621 to 64.2-638 (Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act). Record it while you’re alive and the property passes to your named beneficiary at death, outside probate, revocable any time before then. Virginia adopted the uniform act in 2013; the deed must be recorded before death and is revocable at any time while the owner is alive.
Source: Va. Code sections 64.2-621 to 64.2-638 (Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act) ↗
Virginia doesn't require a private employer to give bereavement leave, paid or unpaid. Whatever you get is your employer's policy, and it can be changed or refused.
Who it covers. No employer is covered. Virginia has no leave-mandate statute of any kind for private employers.
How much. None required.
Paid or unpaid. n/a
Virginia mandates nothing for a death in the family, paid or unpaid, at any employer size. The state's only job-protected leave for most workers is the federal FMLA, which does not cover bereavement. Virginia's separate leave statutes are narrow and unrelated: jury duty, military service, and crime-victim court attendance. No Virginia locality can fill the gap either, because Virginia is a Dillon Rule state and localities have no independent authority to impose employment-leave mandates.
Yes. Virginia enforces pet trusts under Va. Code § 64.2-726, so money you set aside for an animal is legally binding on whoever you put in charge of it. The trust ends when your animal dies, or when the last of them dies if you covered more than one. Virginia sets no year limit, so an animal that outlives you by decades stays covered. Whoever you name in the trust enforces it, and if you name nobody a court appoints someone. Anyone who cares about your animal can ask the court to appoint an enforcer or to remove one who isn't doing the job. Virginia gives that person the same rights a beneficiary has, including accountings and notices from the trustee, and an enforcer the court appoints can be paid a reasonable amount out of the trust. A judge can cut the amount back if the trust holds more than your animal's care requires. Unless your trust says where the extra should go, it comes back to you if you're living; after your death it follows the residuary clause of whichever document set the animal trust up, your will or your living trust, and otherwise goes to whoever inherits from you. Virginia lets the trust keep paying after your animal dies, for its burial and for any bills the trust still owes, but only if the trust document says so. Write that in, along with the caretaker, the person who enforces the trust, and a backup for each, because the statute won't pick any of them for you.
Last verified: July 17, 2026
Source: Va. Code § 64.2-200 ↗If you die intestate (without a valid will) in Virginia, Va. Code § 64.2-200 decides who inherits everything a will would have covered. The shares depend on exactly who survives you: spouse, children, parents, siblings. What you told people you wanted doesn't matter. Only a signed will changes these defaults.
Before anything escheats, Virginia hands the estate to the family of the decedent's most recent spouse: in-laws inherit before the Commonwealth does.
What your spouse inherits depends on who else survives you. The four common family shapes:
The decedent's children and their descendants take everything.
After descendants the estate goes to the parents, then to siblings and their descendants, then splits half to each parent's kindred (grandparents, aunts and uncles, great-grandparents, and so on without end); if neither parent has kindred it goes to the kindred of the decedent's most recent spouse, and only then does it escheat to the Commonwealth (Title 55.1, ch. 24).
Last verified: August 7, 2026
Source: Va. Code 54.1-2983 et seq. (Virginia Advance Medical Directive Act) ↗At a Glance
Living Will
Specifies end-of-life care wishes
Healthcare Proxy
Names a decision-maker for you
DNR / POLST
Do-not-resuscitate orders
Virginia recognizes an Advance Medical Directive under Va. Code 54.1-2983. This combined document can appoint a healthcare agent and specify your wishes for end-of-life care.
Virginia provides a statutory form for advance directives. Download from the Virginia Department of Health.
The Virginia advance directive can designate a healthcare agent to make medical decisions when you can't. The agent can make decisions in any situation where you lack capacity, not just terminal illness.
Virginia uses the VAPOST form for seriously ill patients. The VAPOST is a medical order signed by a physician that provides specific instructions for CPR, medical interventions, and artificial nutrition.
Start with Va. Code 54.1-2983 et seq. (Virginia Advance Medical Directive Act), linked as this section's source. Use the current form or sample that the official source provides or identifies. Form authority and execution requirements vary by state, so confirm the source before signing and get legal help if your situation or the instructions are unclear.
Virginia requires 2 adult witnesses; notarization isn’t required. Anyone 18 or older of sound mind can make one.
Last verified: August 7, 2026
Source: Va. Code 54.1-2800 et seq. (Virginia Funeral Regulations) ↗At a Glance
Virginia has no waiting period before cremation. What it has is two gates. First, no body may be cremated until the Chief Medical Examiner, an Assistant Chief Medical Examiner, or an appointed medical examiner certifies there's no further need for medicolegal inquiry into the death (Va. Code 32.1-309.3). Second, the crematory needs a signed cremation authorization form and visual identification of the deceased by the next of kin or their representative (Va. Code 54.1-2818.1). Crematories are registered and inspected by the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers within the Department of Health Professions. If a crematory can't cremate within 24 hours of taking custody, it has to refrigerate the body at about 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less unless the body was embalmed (18VAC65-20-436).
Va. Code 54.1-2800 sets the order of next of kin: the person you designated under Va. Code 54.1-2825, then the legal spouse, adult children, parents, adult siblings, guardians of minor children or minor siblings, maternal grandparents, paternal grandparents, maternal and paternal adult siblings, and then any other relative in descending order of blood relationship.
To name someone yourself, Va. Code 54.1-2825 requires a signed and notarized writing that the person you name has accepted in writing, and a copy has to reach the funeral service establishment and the cemetery within 48 hours after the establishment receives the remains. That designation outranks everyone else on the list.
Green burial is permitted in Virginia. Natural burial is allowed at cemeteries that permit it. Virginia has several dedicated green burial grounds.
Virginia sets this order by statute. The first person on the list who is available and willing decides, and a funeral home takes its instructions from them.
Naming someone in advance. Va. Code § 54.1-2825(A): a signed and notarized writing that the designee has accepted in writing. It is a standalone designation, not part of the advance directive, and it only defeats the family if a copy reaches the funeral service establishment and the cemetery within 48 hours after the establishment receives the remains. § 54.1-2825(B) separately recognizes a U.S. Department of Defense Record of Emergency Data (DD Form 93) or successor form for a person who dies while serving in the armed forces as defined in 10 U.S.C. § 1481. § 54.1-2807.02 also recognizes an agent named in an advance directive under § 54.1-2984 as an authorized decision-maker where there is no next of kin.
When the same tier disagrees. Va. Code § 54.1-2807.01: absent a § 54.1-2825 designation, any of the next of kin may petition the circuit court where the decedent resided to determine which of them has authority. The court considers the decedent's expressed wishes, the legal and factual relationship among the disputing next of kin and between each of them and the decedent, and any other relevant factor. At least one next of kin must notify the funeral service establishment of the dispute within 48 hours of its receiving the remains, at which point the establishment must immediately stop arrangements until the family agrees or a court rules; after 30 days with no written agreement or court order it may proceed on any next of kin's authorization or under § 54.1-2807.02. The disputing parties are responsible for the costs the establishment incurs holding the body.
Virginia is the outlier in this group: the code defines who counts as next of kin in a listed sequence but prefixes it with 'regardless of the relationship to the decedent,' and § 54.1-2807(B) says the directions of any next of kin govern, so the statute does not enforce a strict tier-by-tier rank the way Utah, Wisconsin, or West Virginia do. Only the § 54.1-2825 designee is given express statutory priority over everyone else, and real conflicts are resolved by circuit court petition rather than by counting a majority within a tier.
Three separate pots of money, on three different agencies' websites, collected nowhere. A family that qualifies for all three usually claims none of them.
1. When nobody can pay. There's no statewide indigent burial program. Virginia handles it locality by locality under Va. Code § 32.1-309.2, 'Disposition of unclaimed dead body; how expenses paid.' The old sections families used to be pointed to, §§ 32.1-284 and 32.1-288, were repealed effective March 7, 2014. Families find help through their local department of social services, listed at https://www.dss.virginia.gov/localagency/. The county or city itself. The primary law-enforcement agency notifies the county or city attorney, a court authorizes a funeral service establishment to take the body, and the locality pays. Local departments of social services are the front door for benefit help.
What it pays. not published. The statute says the responsible jurisdiction bears the 'reasonable expenses of disposition' and the court must approve the expenses before payment. It names no dollar figure, so the amount varies by locality.
What disqualifies you. The body is unclaimed: law enforcement can't identify next of kin within 10 days, or the family refuses to claim within 10 days of notice. The locality that pays is the county or city where the person lived, or where the death happened if they weren't a Virginia resident or their residence is unknown. Any estate or nonprobate assets are 'seized for such purpose' first.
2. If the death was caused by a crime. 'expenses directly related to funeral or burial, not to exceed $10,000' (Va. Code § 19.2-368.11:1). The overall cap: payments 'shall not exceed $35,000 in the aggregate.'
Virginia crime victim compensation ↗
3. Money the person was already owed. Search Virginia's unclaimed property before you borrow anything. Searching and claiming are free.
Nobody hands the family a check here. The locality pays a funeral home the court has approved, and it only kicks in once the body counts as unclaimed, which takes 10 days. If the person left any assets at all, those get taken first to cover the cost.
Last verified: August 7, 2026
Source: Virginia Department of Taxation, Estate and Inheritance Taxes ↗At a Glance
Before July 1, 2007, Virginia had an estate tax equal to the federal credit for state death taxes. The federal credit was eliminated, which effectively repealed the Virginia tax. Virginia Tax's own words: 'Today, Virginia no longer has an estate tax.'
Beneficiaries inheriting from a Virginia decedent pay no state inheritance tax. Virginia Tax does flag one exception it hasn't retired: certain remainder interests are still subject to the inheritance tax. If someone died holding a life estate and the remainder is now falling in, ask a Virginia attorney before assuming there's nothing to pay. Virginia Tax points to the 'Virginia Estate and Inheritance Taxes' section of Public Document 15-93 for the detail.
Virginia residents are still subject to the federal estate tax. The federal exemption is $15 million per individual in 2026.
The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher federal exemption permanent: $15 million per person for 2026, indexed for inflation.
No. Virginia has no state estate tax. Only the federal estate tax applies, and only to estates over $15 million per person (2026), $30 million for a married couple.
No. Virginia doesn’t tax inheritances. Heirs owe no state tax on what they receive.
$15 million per person, $30 million for a married couple, indexed for inflation. The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher exemption permanent. Estates below the threshold owe no federal estate tax.
Last verified: August 8, 2026
Source: Va. Code 32.1-291.1 et seq. (Virginia Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act) ↗At a Glance
Virginia maintains a donor registry through Donate Life Virginia. Registration through the Virginia DMV when obtaining or renewing a driver's license is the most common method.
Under the Virginia Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, a registered donor's decision is legally binding, and nobody else can amend or revoke the gift after your death (Va. Code 32.1-291.8). One exception: if the donor is an unemancipated minor, a parent who is reasonably available can revoke or amend the gift (Va. Code 32.1-291.8(G)). Organ procurement organizations still consult families in practice, so tell your family what you decided to reduce conflict and delays.
Source: Va. Code § 32.1-291.8 (Preclusive effect of anatomical gift, amendment, or revocation) ↗
Register online at donatelifevirginia.org, at any Virginia DMV location, or by completing a donor card.
Need Help in Virginia?
Wills, trusts, advance directives, and probate all benefit from a licensed professional. We've compiled a directory of funeral directors, grief counselors, hospice providers, and financial advisors. Sorted by state. Before a listing appears, we check the provider's phone and address against the provider's own website.
Find Help in Virginia →From The MORTL Edit
Sources: Code of Virginia (law.lis.virginia.gov), Virginia Department of Health (vdh.virginia.gov), Virginia Department of Taxation, Donate Life Virginia, Virginia State Bar. Individual sections are updated and re-dated whenever a law changes, which is why the date at the top of the guide can be newer than this one. The whole guide also gets a front-to-back review on a schedule. Last front-to-back review: June 2026.
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