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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>63031</law_id><section_number>64.2-2500</section_number><catch_line>Definitions</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>64.2-632</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="64.2">Wills, Trusts, and Fiduciaries</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="V">Provisions Applicable to Probate and Nonprobate Transfers</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="25">Acts Barring Property Rights</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>As used in this chapter:
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Decedent</span>&#x201D; means any person whose life has been taken as a result of <span class="dictionary">murder</span> or voluntary <span class="dictionary">manslaughter</span>.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Property</span>&#x201D; includes any real and personal <span class="dictionary">property</span> and any right or interest therein.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Slayer</span>&#x201D; means any person (i) who is convicted of the <span class="dictionary">murder</span> or voluntary <span class="dictionary">manslaughter</span> of the <span class="dictionary">decedent</span> or, (ii) in the absence of such <span class="dictionary">conviction</span>, who is determined, whether before or after his death, by a <span class="dictionary">court</span> of appropriate <span class="dictionary">jurisdiction</span> by a <span class="dictionary">preponderance of the evidence</span> to have committed one of the <span class="dictionary">offenses</span> listed in clause (i) resulting in the death of the <span class="dictionary">decedent</span>. For the purposes of clause (ii), the <span class="dictionary">party</span> seeking to establish that a <span class="dictionary">decedent</span> was slain by such person shall have the <span class="dictionary">burden of proof</span>.</p></section></text><history>1981, c. 469, &#xA7; 55-401; 1987, c. 498; 2008, cc. 822, 830; 2012, c. 614.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
