Virginia Amends Provisions Regarding Tenants by the Entireties
The General Assembly of Virginia has recently updated House Bill 2050, section 55-20.2, which concerns the severing of a tenancy by the entireties. These changes will become effective on July 1, 2017.
When a married couple buys property, they generally take title as tenants by the entireties. If they choose to do so, this means that each spouse owns an undivided one hundred percent interest in the property.
The revised provisions clarify that a married couple may own either real property or personal property, as tenants by the entireties, for the duration of their marriage. If they choose this form of ownership, the law presumes that upon the death of one spouse, their intent is for the jointly held property to become the property of the surviving spouse.
The key change in the law relates to the severing of a tenancy by the entireties. The revisions state that any interest in real property, held as tenants by the entireties, can only be severed by a written instrument if that instrument is a deed that is signed by both spouses, as grantors.
The update also explains the situation where property is conveyed to a trust. It states that if a married couple convey property that they hold as tenants by the entireties to either their joint or separate trusts, as long as they remain husband and wife, and the property continues to be held in trust, then the proceeds of the sale of that property will have the same protection from claims of their separate creditors as if it had remained in a tenancy by the entireties.
Zachary Pearlstein, JD, is a Regulatory Compliance Director with CLA's Mortgage Advisory Division. He joined CLA on January 1, 2014, as part of its acquisition of Bankers Advisory, Inc. Zachary oversees Mortgage Advisory's regulatory compliance team, which focuses on federal and state compliance, fair lending, and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). He is a graduate of Brandeis University and earned his juris doctor at Suffolk University Law School. He is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.
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