| Spousal
& Family Rights |
|
Bar
to Estate Rights
|
|
Virginia
law provides that if a husband or wife willfully deserts or abandons his
or her spouse and such desertion or abandonment continues until the death
of the deserted spouse, the party who deserted the deceased spouse shall
be barred of all interest in the estate of the deceased spouse by intestate
succession, elective share, exempt property, family allowance, and homestead
allowance.
Virginia
law also provides that a parent who willfully deserts or abandons his
or her minor child or incapacitated child and such desertion or abandonment
continues until death of the child, the parent shall be barred from all
interest in the estate of the child by intestate succession unless prior
to the child's death the parent had resumed the parental relationship
and duties and continued such parental relationship and duties until the
death of the child.
| This
statutory bar to estate rights does not prevent a deserting spouse
from receiving a portion of the estate left to a deserting spouse
by will, although it may be unusual for this to occur. |
Filing
of Creditors' Claims >>>
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