Executor and Personal-Representative Bond Requirements in Virginia

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Bond and security are separate qualification requirements

Virginia requires the bond itself even when the surety behind it is excused. An intestate administrator “shall give bond” under § 64.2-503, and a named executor may not exercise ordinary executor powers until taking the oath and giving bond under § 64.2-511. Before qualification, the named executor may only arrange burial, pay reasonable funeral expenses, and preserve the estate from waste.

Security is the separate default in § 64.2-505. A will can waive security only for the executor nominated in that will. The same section excuses security when all distributees or all will beneficiaries are personal representatives, and preserves security on property passing to nonrepresentative beneficiaries in the statement-in-lieu setting. It does not create a general route by which beneficiaries merely sign away security.

An administrator with the will annexed also must take the oath and give bond before administration is granted under § 64.2-500. If a named executor fails to give bond, the court or clerk may instead grant administration with the will annexed.

The amount follows the property placed under the fiduciary's power

Under § 64.2-504, the ordinary minimum is the full value of the decedent's personal estate. If the will authorizes the executor or administrator to sell real estate or receive its rents and profits, the amount also reaches the real estate or those rents and profits, as applicable.

The clerk must redetermine the amount on the fiduciary's request when a lower current market value is shown by a court-confirmed account or by an inventory approved by the commissioner of accounts and recorded with the clerk. That clerk-reduction route does not apply when the court set the bond.

Interested persons and oversight officials can restore or strengthen security

Section 64.2-505(B) allows a legatee, devisee, distributee, or any person with a pecuniary interest in the estate to move for security. The motion must be served on the personal representative, the court must conduct a hearing, and the court or clerk may require an amount it considers sufficient.

The commissioner of accounts provides a second oversight route under § 64.2-1204. After a required filing, the commissioner examines whether the bond, penalty, and surety are sufficient. Before the filing, an interested person or an interested infant's next friend may request an investigation, after reasonable notice, into whether a fiduciary who qualified without security should now be required to furnish it.

Under § 64.2-1410, a surety may apply for a new or additional bond, the fiduciary may move for one, and the clerk, commissioner, or an interested party's evidence may prompt the court or clerk to act. The order sets a reasonable compliance time and an appropriate penalty and may require or dispense with sureties.

Small assets, financial institutions, and restricted deposits change the security

For an ordinary personal representative with no assets or no more than $35,000 coming into the fiduciary's possession, § 64.2-1411 lets the court or clerk permit qualification by bond without surety. A personal representative serving jointly with a bank or trust company that is exempt under § 6.2-1003 ordinarily shares that no-surety status unless the court directs otherwise.

Section 6.2-1003 exempts a bank or trust company with at least $50,000 in unimpaired capital stock from security for an authorized office of trust, but requires bond for the portion of an estate exceeding its combined unimpaired capital and surplus. When a commercial surety is used, § 49-15 requires acceptance of a qualifying company that supplies satisfactory solvency and credit evidence; no additional surety may be demanded if that company provides all required security.

Under § 64.2-1413, the circuit court may direct personal assets to an insured Virginia financial institution when the bond would be burdensome or for other cause. After the institution files its receipt and the assets become subject to court-authorized instructions, the court must waive the bond or reduce it to the property still in the fiduciary's possession.

What trips people up

• A nonresident exception can override the will. Under § 64.2-1426, a nonresident natural person must file written consent to service and ordinarily give bond with surety notwithstanding § 64.2-505. The surety can be avoided only if a resident cofiduciary qualifies at the same time or the court or clerk uses § 64.2-1411.
• Disclaimers must be timed to qualification. Section 64.2-505(C) treats a representative as the only distributee or beneficiary when that status results from disclaimers filed before or at qualification; it is not a free-standing later waiver.
• Later bond default is not automatic removal. Section 64.2-1410 permits revocation after noncompliance with a new- or additional-bond order, but requires reasonable notice and says the court “may” revoke.

Common questions

Does the $35,000 rule eliminate probate qualification?

No. Section 64.2-1411 allows a bond without surety and requires qualification certificates whose cumulative collection authority cannot exceed the applicable amount. It is a limited security exception, not a no-qualification procedure.

May an agent sign a later bond for the fiduciary?

Yes, in the circumstance stated by § 64.2-1410(B). When a new, additional, or reduced bond is ordered, the court or clerk must allow execution by an agent under a power of attorney that expressly authorizes the act instead of requiring the fiduciary's personal appearance.

Can the person who moves for security recover filing costs or attorney fees?

Possibly. Section 64.2-505(B) permits the court to award the movant reasonable attorney fees and costs payable from the estate; it does not make an award automatic.

Statutes and sources

• Va. Code §§ 64.2-500, 64.2-503 through 64.2-505, and 64.2-511 — covered offices, qualification bond, security exceptions, interested-person motion, amount, and prequalification limits. Official Code of Virginia (accessed 2026-08-29).
• Va. Code §§ 64.2-1204 and 64.2-1410 through 64.2-1411, 64.2-1413, and 64.2-1426 — commissioner review, later security, small-asset and cofiduciary exceptions, restricted deposits, nonresidents, notice, and revocation. Official Code of Virginia (accessed 2026-08-29).
• Va. Code § 6.2-1003 and § 49-15 — bank/trust-company security exception and qualifying corporate surety. Official bank and trust-company provision and official corporate-surety provision (accessed 2026-08-29).

The current-session pending-bill sweep found no measure that would change the ordinary executor or administrator qualification-bond rules summarized here.