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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>75565</law_id><section_number>8.01-251</section_number><catch_line>Limitations on enforcement of judgments</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>16.1-116</reference><reference>16.1-117</reference><reference>16.1-118.1</reference><reference>46.2-417</reference><reference>58.1-1802.1</reference><reference>8.01-511</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="8.01">Civil Remedies and Procedure</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="4">Limitations of Actions</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="4">Limitations on Enforcement of Judgments and Decrees</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> No execution shall be issued and no <span class="dictionary">action</span> brought on a <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> dated, extended, or renewed, prior to July 1, 2021, including a <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> in favor of the Commonwealth and a <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> rendered in another state or country, after 20 years from the date of such <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> or domestication of such <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> or 20 years from the date of such extension or renewal of such <span class="dictionary">judgment</span>, whichever is later, unless the period is extended as provided in this section. No execution shall be issued and no <span class="dictionary">action</span> brought on a <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> dated on or after July 1, 2021, including a <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> in favor of the Commonwealth and a <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> rendered in another state or country, after 10 years from the date of such <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> or domestication of such <span class="dictionary">judgment</span>, unless the period is extended as provided in this section, except that no execution shall be issued and no <span class="dictionary">action</span> brought on a <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> dated on or after July 1, 2021, that was created by nonpayment of child support after 20 years from the date of such <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> or domestication of such <span class="dictionary">judgment</span>. <a id="paragraph-271452" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.01-251/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> The limitation prescribed in subsection A may be extended by the recordation of a certificate in the form provided in subsection G prior to the expiration of the limitation period prescribed herein in the clerk&#x2019;s office in which such judgment is recorded and executed by either the <span class="dictionary">judgment creditor</span> or his assignee or by the <span class="dictionary">judgment creditor</span>&#x2019;s or his assignee&#x2019;s attorney or authorized agent. Recordation of the certificate shall extend the limitations period of the right to enforce such judgment for 10 years from the date of the recordation of the certificate. A <span class="dictionary">judgment creditor</span> or his assignee may record one additional extension by recording another certificate in the form provided in subsection G prior to the expiration of the original 10-year extension of the limitation period, which shall extend the limitations period of the right to enforce such judgment for 10 years from the date of recordation of the second certificate.
			The clerk of the <span class="dictionary">court</span> shall index the certificate in both names in the index of the judgment <span class="dictionary">lien</span> book and give reference to the book and page in which the original <span class="dictionary">lien</span> is recorded. This procedure is subject to the exception that if the <span class="dictionary">action</span> is against a personal representative of a decedent, the <span class="dictionary">motion</span> shall be within two years from the date of his qualification, the extension may be for only two years from the time of the recordation of the certificate, and there may be only one such extension. <a id="paragraph-271453" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.01-251/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="C"><p><span class="prefix-number">C.</span> No <span class="dictionary">suit</span> shall be brought to enforce the <span class="dictionary">lien</span> of any judgment, including <span class="dictionary">judgments</span> in favor of the Commonwealth, upon which the right to <span class="dictionary">issue</span> an execution or bring an <span class="dictionary">action</span> is barred by other subsections of this section, nor shall any <span class="dictionary">suit</span> be brought to enforce the <span class="dictionary">lien</span> of any judgment against the lands that have been conveyed by the <span class="dictionary">judgment debtor</span> to a grantee for value, unless the same be brought within five years from the due recordation of the deed from such <span class="dictionary">judgment debtor</span> to such grantee and unless a notice of lis pendens shall have been recorded in the manner provided by &#xA7; <a class="law" title="When and how docketed and indexed" href="/8.01-268/">8.01-268</a> before the expiration of such five-year period. <a id="paragraph-271454" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.01-251/#C"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="D"><p><span class="prefix-number">D.</span> In computing the time, any time during which the right to sue out execution on the judgment is suspended by the terms thereof, or by legal process, shall be omitted. &#xA7;&#xA7; <a class="law" title="Accrual of right of action" href="/8.01-230/">8.01-230</a> et seq., <a class="law" title="When action on contract governed by the law of another state or country barred in Virginia" href="/8.01-247/">8.01-247</a> and <a class="law" title="As to rights and remedies existing when this chapter takes effect" href="/8.01-256/">8.01-256</a> shall apply to the right to bring such <span class="dictionary">action</span> in like manner as to any right. <a id="paragraph-271455" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.01-251/#D"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="E"><p><span class="prefix-number">E.</span> This section shall not be construed to impair the right of subrogation to which any <span class="dictionary">person</span> may become entitled while the <span class="dictionary">lien</span> is in force, provided that he institutes proceedings to enforce such right within five years after the same accrued, nor shall the <span class="dictionary">lien</span> of a judgment be impaired by the recovery of another judgment thereon, or by a forthcoming <span class="dictionary">bond</span> taken on an execution thereon, such <span class="dictionary">bond</span> having the force of a judgment. <a id="paragraph-271456" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.01-251/#E"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="F"><p><span class="prefix-number">F.</span> Limitations on enforcement of <span class="dictionary">judgments</span> entered in the general district <span class="dictionary">courts</span> shall be governed by &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Limitations on enforcement of district court judgments" href="/16.1-94.1/">16.1-94.1</a>, unless an abstract of such judgment is docketed in the judgment book of a <span class="dictionary">circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">court</span>. Upon docketing such judgment, such judgment shall be treated as a judgment entered by the <span class="dictionary">circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">court</span> and may be extended in the same manner as a judgment entered by the <span class="dictionary">circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">court</span>, although the original date of entry of the judgment shall remain the date that was entered by the general district <span class="dictionary">court</span>. <a id="paragraph-271457" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.01-251/#F"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="G"><p><span class="prefix-number">G.</span> Any extension of the limitations of the right to enforce a judgment shall conform substantially with the following form:
			CERTIFICATE OF EXTENSION OF LIMITATION OF RIGHT TO ENFORCE JUDGMENT <span class="dictionary">LIEN</span>
			Place of Record ___________________________________________________________________________
			Date Judgment Docketed ___________________________________________________________________________
			Judgment <span class="dictionary">Lien</span> Book __________________ Book Page __________________
			Name of <span class="dictionary">Judgment Creditor</span>(s) or Assignee(s) ___________________________________________________________________________
			Address of <span class="dictionary">Judgment Creditor</span>(s) or Assignee(s) ___________________________________________________
			Phone number of <span class="dictionary">Judgment Creditors</span>(s) or Assignee(s) (if available) ___________________________________________________________________________
			Name of <span class="dictionary">Judgment Creditor</span>(s) or Assignee(s)&#x2019; attorney or agent ___________________________________________________________________________
			Address of Creditor(s) or Assignee(s)&#x2019; attorney or agent ___________________________________________________________________________
			Name of Debtor(s) ___________________________________________________________________________
			I/we, the undersigned [ ] <span class="dictionary">judgment creditor</span>(s) [ ] agent of <span class="dictionary">judgment creditor</span>(s) [ ] attorney for <span class="dictionary">judgment creditor</span>(s), do hereby certify that the aforementioned judgment <span class="dictionary">lien</span> be extended 10 years from the date of my/our endorsement upon this certificate.
			[ ] <span class="dictionary">Judgment creditor</span>(s) or assignee(s) [ ] agent of <span class="dictionary">judgment creditor</span>(s) or assignee(s) [ ] attorney for <span class="dictionary">judgment creditor</span>(s) or assignee(s): ________________
			Commonwealth of Virginia
			County/City of ____________________
			Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by
			_______________, this _____ day of ________, 20 _____
			My Commission expires: ____________________
			Notary Public: ____________________ <a id="paragraph-271458" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.01-251/#G"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7;&#xA7; 8-393, 8-394, 8-396, 8-397; 1956, c. 512; 1958, c. 221; 1960, c. 274; 1977, c. 617; 1983, c. 499; 2002, c. 394; 2005, cc. 139, 203; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 486; 2022, c. 324.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
