Virginia Law

Article 1. General Provisions.

In this chapter:

"Business" includes every trade, occupation, and profession.

"Commission" means the State Corporation Commission of Virginia.

"Debtor in bankruptcy" means a person who is the subject of:

(i) an order for relief under Title 11 of the United States Code or a comparable order under a successor statute of general application; or

(ii) a comparable order under federal, state, or foreign law governing insolvency.

"Distribution" means a transfer of money or other property from a partnership to a partner in the partner's capacity as a partner or to the partner's transferee.

"Foreign registered limited liability partnership" means a limited liability partnership or registered limited liability partnership, or the functional equivalent thereof, formed pursuant to an agreement governed by the laws of any state or jurisdiction other than this Commonwealth and registered as a limited liability partnership under the laws of that state or jurisdiction.

"Partnership" means an association of two or more persons to carry on as co-owners a business for profit formed under § 50-73.88, predecessor law, or comparable law of another jurisdiction, and includes, for all purposes of the laws of this Commonwealth, a registered limited liability partnership.

"Partnership agreement" means the agreement, whether written, oral, or implied, among the partners concerning the partnership, including amendments to the partnership agreement.

"Partnership at will" means a partnership in which the partners have not agreed to remain partners until the expiration of a definite term or the completion of a particular undertaking.

"Partnership interest" or "partner's interest in the partnership" means all of a partner's interests in the partnership, including the partner's transferable interest and all management and other rights.

"Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.

"Principal office" means the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, where the chief executive offices of a domestic or foreign partnership or registered limited liability partnership are located.

"Property" means all property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, or any interest therein.

"Registered limited liability partnership" means a partnership formed pursuant to an agreement governed by the laws of this Commonwealth and registered under § 50-73.132.

"State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

"Statement" means a statement of partnership authority under § 50-73.93, a statement of denial under § 50-73.94, a statement of dissociation under § 50-73.115, a statement of dissolution under § 50-73.121, a statement of merger under § 50-73.131, a statement of registration as a registered limited liability partnership under § 50-73.132, a statement of registration as a foreign registered limited liability partnership under § 50-73.138, an amendment or cancellation of any of the foregoing or a renewal of a statement of partnership authority.

"Transfer" includes an assignment, conveyance, lease, mortgage, deed, and encumbrance.

1996, c. 292; 2003, c. 567; 2006, c. 912; 2007, c. 631.

A. A person knows a fact if the person has actual knowledge of it.

B. A person has notice of a fact if the person:

1. Knows of it;

2. Has received a notification of it; or

3. Has reason to know it exists from all of the facts known to the person at the time in question.

C. A person notifies or gives a notification to another by taking steps reasonably calculated to inform the other person in ordinary course, whether or not the other person learns of it.

D. A person receives a notification when the notification:

1. Comes to the person's attention; or

2. Is duly delivered at the person's place of business or at any other place held out by the person as a place for receiving communications.

E. Except as otherwise provided in subsection F, a person other than an individual knows, has notice, or receives a notification of a fact for purposes of a particular transaction when the individual conducting the transaction knows, has notice, or receives a notification of the fact, or in any event when the fact would have been brought to the individual's attention if the person had exercised reasonable diligence. The person exercises reasonable diligence if it maintains reasonable routines for communicating significant information to the individual conducting the transaction and there is reasonable compliance with the routines. Reasonable diligence does not require an individual acting for the person to communicate information unless the communication is part of the individual's regular duties or the individual has reason to know of the transaction and that the transaction would be materially affected by the information.

F. A partner's knowledge, notice, or receipt of a notification of a fact relating to the partnership is effective immediately as knowledge by, notice to, or receipt of a notification by the partnership, except in the case of a fraud on the partnership committed by or with the consent of that partner.

1996, c. 292.

A. Except as otherwise provided in subsection B, relations among the partners and between the partners and the partnership are governed by the partnership agreement. To the extent the partnership agreement does not otherwise provide, this chapter governs relations among the partners and between the partners and the partnership.

B. The partnership agreement may not:

1. Vary the rights and duties in § 50-73.83 except to eliminate the duty to provide copies of statements to all of the partners;

2. Unreasonably restrict the right of access to books and records in subsection B of § 50-73.101;

3. Eliminate the obligation of good faith and fair dealing in subsection D of § 50-73.102, but the partnership agreement may prescribe the standards by which the performance of the obligation is to be measured, if the standards are not manifestly unreasonable;

4. Vary the power to dissociate as a partner in subsection A of § 50-73.110, except to require the notice in subdivision 1 of § 50-73.109 to be in writing;

5. Vary the right of a court to expel a partner in the events specified in subdivision 5 of § 50-73.109;

6. Vary the requirement to wind up the partnership business in cases specified in subdivisions 4, 5 or 6 of § 50-73.117;

7. Restrict rights of third parties under this chapter without the consent of those third parties; or

8. Vary the law applicable to registered limited liability partnerships as set forth in subsection B of § 50-73.84.

1996, c. 292.

A. Unless displaced by particular provisions of this chapter, the principles of law and equity supplement this chapter.

B. If an obligation to pay interest arises under this chapter and the rate is not specified, the rate is that specified in § 6.2-302.

1996, c. 292.

A. A statement may be filed with the Commission. A duly authenticated copy of a statement that is filed in an office in another state may be filed with the Commission. Either filing has the effect provided in this chapter with respect to partnership property located in or transactions that occur in the Commonwealth.

B. A duly authenticated copy of a statement that has been filed with the Commission and recorded in the office for recording transfers of real property has the effect provided for recorded statements in this chapter. A recorded statement that is not a duly authenticated copy of a statement filed with the Commission does not have the effect provided for recorded statements in this chapter.

C. A statement filed by a partnership shall be executed by at least two partners. Other statements shall be executed by a partner or other person authorized by this chapter. The person executing a statement shall sign it and state beneath or opposite his signature his name and the capacity in which he executes the document. Any person may execute a statement by an attorney-in-fact. It shall be unlawful for any person to sign a document he knows is false in any material respect with intent that the document be delivered to the Commission for filing, and any person who violates this provision shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

D. A person authorized by this chapter to file a statement may:

1. Amend or cancel the statement by filing an amendment or cancellation that states the name of the partnership as it is set forth on the records of the Commission, states the identification number issued by the Commission to the partnership, identifies the statement, and states the substance of the amendment or cancellation; and

2. Renew a statement of partnership authority by filing during the 90-day period preceding the date of the statement's cancellation by operation of law, a renewal of a statement of partnership authority that names the partnership, states the identification number issued by the Commission to the partnership, states the partnership's desire to renew the statement of partnership authority, and states that all of the information set forth in the statement of partnership authority is true and correct as of the execution date of the renewal.

E. A person who files a statement pursuant to this section shall promptly send a copy of the statement to every nonfiling partner and to any other person named as a partner in the statement. Failure to send a copy of a statement to a partner or other person does not limit the effectiveness of the statement as to a person not a partner.

F. The fees paid into the state treasury under this section shall be set aside and paid into the special fund created under § 13.1-775.1, subject to that section. The Commission shall have the authority to certify to the Comptroller directing refund of any overpayment of a fee or of any fee collected for a document that is not accepted for filing, at any time within one year from the date of its payment. The Commission shall charge and collect the following fees:

1. The fee shall be $100 for filing any one of the following:

a. A statement of registration as a registered limited liability partnership; or

b. A statement of registration as a foreign registered limited liability partnership.

2. The fee shall be $50 for filing an annual continuation report pursuant to § 50-73.134.

3. The fee shall be $25 for filing any one of the following:

a. An amendment to a statement of registration as a registered limited liability partnership;

b. An amendment to a statement of registration as a foreign registered limited liability partnership; or

c. A statement of partnership authority or any other statement or an amendment thereto or cancellation thereof, or a renewal of a statement of partnership authority.

4. For issuing a certificate pursuant to § 50-73.150, the fee shall be $6.

The court responsible for recording transfers of real property may collect a fee for recording a statement.

G. The Commission may provide forms for statements and reports.

H. Any statement filed with the Commission under this chapter shall be typewritten or printed. The typewritten or printed portion shall be in black. Photocopies, or other reproduced copies, of typewritten or printed statements may be filed. In every case, information in the statement shall be legible and the document shall be capable of being reformatted and reproduced in copies of archival quality. The statement shall be in the English language. A partnership name need not be in English if written in English letters or Arabic or Roman numerals. Any signature on a statement may be a facsimile.

I. The Commission may accept the electronic filing of any information required or permitted to be filed under this chapter and may prescribe the methods of execution, recording, reproduction and certification of electronically filed information pursuant to § 59.1-496.

J. 1. A statement shall be effective at the time of the filing of the statement with the Commission unless the statement is filed on behalf of a partnership formed under § 50-73.88 or predecessor law and states that it shall become effective at a later time or date specified in the statement. In that event, the statement shall become effective at the earlier of the time and date so specified or 11:59 p.m. on the fifteenth day after the date on which the statement is filed with the Commission. If a delayed effective date is specified, but no time is specified, the effective time shall be 12:01 a.m. on the date specified.

2. Notwithstanding the terms of subdivision 1, any statement that has a delayed effective time or date shall not become effective if, prior to the effective time and date, a notice of cancellation signed by each party to the statement is delivered to the Commission for filing. If the Commission finds that the notice of cancellation complies with the requirements of the law, it shall file the notice and the statement shall be deemed canceled and shall not become effective.

3. A notice of cancellation shall contain:

a. The name of the partnership;

b. The name of the statement and the date on which the statement was filed with the Commission;

c. The time and date on which the statement becomes effective; and

d. A statement that the statement is being canceled in accordance with this section.

4. For statements with a delayed effective date and time, the effective date and times shall be Eastern Time.

1996, c. 292; 1997, c. 188; 2000, cc. 5, 995; 2002, c. 441; 2003, c. 567; 2004, cc. 316, 601; 2007, cc. 631, 771; 2009, c. 716; 2010, c. 675; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 487.

A. Except as provided in subsection B, the law of the jurisdiction in which a partnership has its principal office governs relations among the partners and between the partners and the partnership.

B. The law of this Commonwealth shall govern relations among the partners and between the partners and the partnership, and the liability of partners for debts, obligations and liabilities chargeable to the partnership, in a partnership that has filed a statement of registration as a registered limited liability partnership in this Commonwealth.

C. Sections 9-406 and 9-408 of the Uniform Commercial Code, including §§ 8.9A-406 and 8.9A-408, do not apply to any interest in a partnership, including all rights, powers, and interests arising under the partnership agreement of a partnership, Chapter 2.1 (§ 50-73.1 et seq.) of this title, or this chapter. This provision prevails over §§ 8.9A-406 and 8.9A-408, and is expressly intended to permit the enforcement as a fundamental matter of contract among the partners of a partnership of any provision of a partnership agreement that would otherwise be ineffective under § 9-406 or § 9-408 of the Uniform Commercial Code.

1996, c. 292; 2003, c. 340; 2007, c. 631.

A partner may lend money to and transact other business with the partnership, and as to each loan or transaction, the rights and obligations of the partner are the same as those of a person who is not a partner, subject to other applicable law.

1996, c. 292.

A partnership governed by this chapter is subject to any amendment to or repeal of this chapter.

1996, c. 292.