Petition to Probate a Will Requirements in Virginia

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and proceeding type

Virginia's ordinary route is probate before the circuit-court clerk. Under § 64.2-444, the clerk or a qualified deputy may admit the will, qualify the executor, and take the bond with the same effect as the circuit court. A separate judicial motion becomes important when the proponent requests summons, the court orders it, or an interested person opposes probate under § 64.2-446.

Court and venue

Section 64.2-443 places probate in the circuit court for the locality of the decedent's known residence. If there was no known Virginia residence, venue moves first to a locality containing real estate the decedent owned or devised, then to the locality of death or another locality containing estate property.

For a person who entered a nursing home, convalescent home, or similar institution because of advanced age or impaired health, the statute rebuttably presumes the prior legal residence continued. That rule can keep venue from shifting merely because of institutional placement.

Who may offer the will

Section 64.2-446 speaks broadly of a “person offering, or intending to offer” a will. The statewide Probate Information Form, CC-1650, asks the requester's basis and offers boxes for the named executor, sole distributee, other distributee, creditor, or “other.” Filing eligibility and appointment are still separate: the person making the request and the person seeking appointment have separate fields.

Required information and heir list

Routine clerk probate does not use one statewide pleading styled as a judicial petition. Section 64.2-1409 instead requires a person seeking fiduciary qualification to give the clerk the information required on forms furnished through the Supreme Court's Office of the Executive Secretary.

CC-1650 collects the decedent's name, marital status, residence, birth, death, proof of death, will and codicil dates, requested action, requester, request basis, proposed appointees, contact information, attorney information, a small- estate value indicator, certifications, and appointment disclosures concerning disability, felony conviction, bankruptcy, and attorney status.

Under § 64.2-509, the personal representative separately must, at qualification, to furnish the sworn statewide heir list. If the will is probated without anyone qualifying, the will's proponent furnishes it when the will is presented. CC-1611 records every heir's name, address, relationship, and age.

Original will, copies, and safekeeping

Under § 64.2-449, the court or clerk may require all testamentary papers and compel a will from its custodian. After admission, § 64.2-455 requires the will or authenticated copy to be recorded and remain in the clerk's office.

Virginia provides a distinct authenticated-copy route in § 64.2-450 for a will already proved in another jurisdiction: the proponent offers the authenticated will together with the authenticated probate certificate. A will lodged with a participating clerk during the testator's life is opened on notice of death and delivered to a person entitled to offer it under § 64.2-409. A missing domestic original is not the same as that foreign-probate route; § 64.2-450 does not by its terms create an ordinary domestic-copy shortcut.

Filing and production timing

Sections 64.2-443 through 64.2-455 contain no numeric deadline for an ordinary domestic will to be offered. That should not be confused with later clocks: § 64.2-508 requires the representative or no-qualification proponent to send the statutory notice within 30 days after qualification or admission and record the notice affidavit within four months.

Proof and self-proof

Virginia Code § 64.2-452 uses the testator's acknowledgment and the attesting witnesses' affidavits; § 64.2-453 instead uses acknowledgments by the testator and witnesses. Each self-proof route requires the officer's certificate attached or annexed to the will. Section 64.2-452 directs the court to accept compliant witness affidavits as though given orally in court.

For a non-self-proved will, § 64.2-447 permits a subscribing witness's deposition when the witness lives outside Virginia or cannot testify before the court or clerk for another reason. Virginia's CC-1601 is the statewide deposition form for that route. A holographic will has a separate proof rule: § 64.2-403 requires at least two disinterested witnesses to prove that the will and signature are wholly the testator's handwriting.

Notice, hearing, and objections

The ordinary opening can occur without advance summons. Under § 64.2-446, the proponent may ask the clerk to summon interested persons to show cause; without that request, the court may summon them or proceed without summoning anyone. If summons issues, the court hears the motion after interested persons have been summoned or appear, and an interested person's request requires a jury trial on whether the produced paper is the will.

Admission does not end notice duties. Section 64.2-508 generally requires written notice to the surviving spouse, all heirs, living and ascertained beneficiaries under the admitted will, and living and ascertained beneficiaries under an earlier will probated in the same court, subject to the section's exceptions. Notice is due within 30 days; the affidavit is recorded within four months. A good-faith failure does not invalidate probate, but the statute excludes the period of missing notice when calculating affected limitation periods unless the recipient could not be found after reasonable diligence.

Two challenge clocks matter. Under § 64.2-445, an interested person has six months to appeal the clerk's probate order for a de novo court hearing. Under § 64.2-448, a qualifying interested person who was not previously before the court or clerk one year to file a complaint to impeach or establish the will; a person proceeded against only by publication may have two years, and the section has separate protections for minors and incapacitated persons.

Executor qualification, bond, and authority

Section 64.2-501 requires the executor to swear that the recorded writing is the decedent's true last will as far as the executor knows and that the executor will faithfully perform the office. Under § 64.2-511, ordinary executor powers wait until that oath and the bond are given, while the nominee may arrange burial, pay reasonable funeral expenses, and preserve the estate against waste before qualification.

Section 64.2-504 sets the bond amount at least at the value of the personal estate, adding covered real estate or rents and profits when the will gives the corresponding authority. Bond and surety are not the same question. Section 64.2-505 excuses security when the will waives it or when the listed all- beneficiary/all-personal-representative condition is met, although an interested person may move to require security.

Nonresident individuals may qualify under § 64.2-1426. They file written consent for Virginia service and ordinarily give surety unless a resident cofiduciary qualifies at the same time or the court or clerk waives surety under the cross-referenced statute. A corporation must be authorized to do business in Virginia. Once qualification is complete, § 64.2-520.2 allows a person doing business in good faith with the executor to presume proper authority from a currently effective certificate of qualification.

What trips people up

• The routine clerk process is form-driven, not a generic verified petition. CC-1650 and the sworn CC-1611 heir list carry the statewide information; local appointment procedures may add mechanics but cannot replace the statutes.
• Advance service is optional in the ordinary uncontested route. Asking for summons changes the opening into the show-cause procedure and can produce a jury trial on request.
• The 30-day clock is post-probate notice, not a deadline to offer the will. The accompanying affidavit has its own four-month recording deadline.
• Bond does not automatically mean outside surety. The bond amount comes from § 64.2-504, while §§ 64.2-505 and 64.2-1426 determine whether security or surety is required.

Common questions

Can the will be admitted without anyone qualifying as executor?

Yes. CC-1650 expressly covers “probate of a will without qualification.” In that situation, § 64.2-509 makes the proponent furnish the sworn heir list when the will is presented, and § 64.2-508 assigns the proponent the post-probate notice duty.

Must the heir list be corrected if the information changes?

Yes. Section 64.2-509(E) requires an additional heir list reflecting any change in who should be included, while keeping the list focused on heirs who existed on the date of death.

Does self-proof prevent someone from challenging the will?

No. Sections 64.2-452 and 64.2-453 change the proof supplied at admission; § 64.2-448 separately preserves qualifying complaints to impeach or establish the will within its deadlines.

Must an interested person post a bond to appeal the clerk's order?

No. Section 64.2-445 expressly allows the six-month clerk-order appeal without giving bond; the circuit court hears the probate matter de novo.

Statutes and sources

• Va. Code §§ 64.2-443 through -455 — court, venue, clerk authority, optional summons, proof, authenticated copies, recording, and probate challenges. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title64.2/chapter4/
• Va. Code §§ 64.2-501, -504, -505, -508, -509, -511, and -520.2 — oath, bond, security, notice, heir list, prequalification authority, and the certificate of qualification. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title64.2/chapter5/
• Va. Code §§ 64.2-1409 and -1426 — statewide qualification forms and nonresident or corporate fiduciaries. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title64.2/chapter14/
• Virginia Forms CC-1601, CC-1611, and CC-1650 — statewide witness-deposition, heir, and probate-information forms. https://www.vacourts.gov/forms/circuit/fiduciary

All sources were accessed August 3, 2026.