                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

WHEN OWNER OF LAND MAY SELL DRIFT PROPERTY; OWNER OF PROPERTY ENTITLED TO
PROCEEDS AFTER PAYMENT OF EXPENSES, ETC (§ 55.1-2702)

If the owner of drift property described in § 55.1-2700 does not, within three
months from the time the property was so deposited, remove or demand the
property from the owner of the land, the owner of the land may sell the property
or otherwise convert it to his own use, provided that the owner of the land,
after deducting a just compensation for any proper care, labor, or expense
bestowed, done, or incurred by him for the property from the amount received by
him as the price thereof, or the actual value thereof at the time of such sale
or other conversion, shall pay to the owner of the property, if he elects to
receive it, the residue of the price or of the actual value, as the case may be.
The owner of the property, after he has demanded such residue and proved by the
affidavit of some other person, or by a competent witness, his right thereto, or
offered to prove such right, and if the owner of the land has refused or
declined to inspect or hear the evidence thereof, (i) may recover such residue,
when the property has been sold, as money received for his use; (ii) may recover
such residue, when the property has not been sold, as the price of goods sold by
the owner of the property to the owner of the land; or (iii) may have his action
of trover to the extent of such residue.

HISTORY: Code 1919, § 3571; Code 1950, § 55-209; 2019, c. 712.