Virginia Law

Article 4. Enforcement Generally.

Every officer shall endorse on each writ of fieri facias the date and time he receives the same and also when he levies upon tangible personal property of the debtor.

Code 1950, § 8-420; 1977, c. 617; 2009, c. 443.

An officer into whose hands a writ of fieri facias is placed to be levied, when making a levy shall serve a copy of the writ and any attachments thereto on the judgment debtor or other responsible person at the premises where the levy is made. If no such person is present, a copy of the writ and any attachments thereto shall be posted on the front door of such premises.

1986, c. 341.

Of writs of fieri facias, that which was first delivered to the officer, though two or more be delivered on the same day, shall be first levied and satisfied, and when several such executions are delivered to the officer at the same time they shall be satisfied ratably. But if an indemnifying bond be required by the officer as a prerequisite to a sale, and the same to be given by some of the creditors and not by others, and the officer sells under the protection of such bond, the proceeds of the sale shall be paid to the creditors giving the bond in the order in which their liens attached.

Code 1950, § 8-421; 1977, c. 617.

No growing crop of any kind, not severed, shall be liable to distress or levy.

Code 1950, § 8-421.1; 1977, c. 617.

Officers shall in no case make an unreasonable distress or levy. For horses, or any livestock distrained or levied on, the officer shall provide sufficient sustenance while they remain in his possession. Nothing distrained or levied on shall be removed by him out of his county or city, except that an officer distraining or levying on personal property may employ a Virginia-licensed auctioneer or auction firm, as those terms are defined in § 54.1-600, to sell such property on behalf of the officer, and the officer may remove such property to transport such property to the site of an auction for such sale, regardless of whether such site is within or outside such officer's county or city, or unless when it is otherwise specially provided.

Code 1950, § 8-421.2; 1977, c. 617; 2022, c. 62.

An officer into whose hands an execution is placed to be levied, may, if need be, break open the outer doors of a dwelling house in the daytime, after having first demanded admittance of the occupant, in order to make a levy, and may also levy on property in the personal possession of the debtor if the same be open to observation.

Code 1950, § 8-422; 1977, c. 617.

In any case of goods and chattels which an officer shall distrain or levy on, otherwise than under an attachment, or which he may be directed to sell by an order of a court, unless such order prescribe a different course, the officer shall fix upon a time and place for the sale thereof and post notice of the same at least ten days before the day of sale at some place near the residence of the owner if he reside in the county or city and at two or more public places in the officer's county or city. If the goods and chattels be expensive to keep or perishable, the court from whose clerk's office the writ of fieri facias or the distress warrant was issued under which the seizure is made, or if the distress warrant was issued by a clerk, the court of which he is a clerk, may order a sale of the property seized under fieri facias or distress warrant to be made upon such notice less than ten days as to such court may seem proper. At the time and place so appointed, such officer shall sell to the highest bidder, for cash, such goods and chattels, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

Code 1950, § 8-422.1; 1962, c. 10; 1977, c. 617.

When there is not time, on the day appointed for any such sale, to complete the same, the sale may be adjourned from day to day until completed.

Code 1950, § 8-422.2; 1977, c. 617.

If, at any sale by an officer, the purchaser does not comply with the terms of sale, the officer may sell the property, either forthwith or under a new advertisement, or return that the property was not sold for want of bidders. If, on a resale, the property be sold for less than it sold for before, the first purchaser shall be liable for the difference to the creditor, so far as is required to satisfy him, and to the debtor for the balance. This section shall not prevent the creditor from proceeding as he might have done if it had not been enacted.

Code 1950, § 8-423; 1977, c. 617.

When an officer has received money under execution, if any surplus remain in his hands after satisfying the execution, such surplus shall be repaid to the debtor; and if the debtor, or his personal representative, obtain an injunction or supersedeas to an execution, in whole or in part, before money received under it, or any part of it, is paid over to the creditor, the officer shall repay such debtor the money so received and not so paid over, or so much thereof as the injunction or supersedeas may extend to, unless such process otherwise direct.

Code 1950, § 8-424; 1977, c. 617.

No officer receiving money under execution, when the person to whom it is payable resides in a different county or city from that in which the officer resides, shall be liable to have any judgment rendered against him or his sureties for the nonpayment thereof, until a demand of payment be made of such officer in his county or city, by such creditor or his attorney-at-law, or some person having a written order from the creditor.

Code 1950, § 8-425; 1977, c. 617.

For the recovery of any estate on which a writ of fieri facias is a lien under this chapter, or on which the judgment on which such writ issues is a lien under Chapter 17 (§ 8.01-426 et seq.) of this title, or for the enforcement of any liability in respect to any such estate, a suit may be maintained, at law or in equity, as the case may require, in the name of the officer to whom such writ was delivered, or in the name of any other officer who may be designated for the purpose by an order of the court in which the judgment is entered. No officer shall be bound to bring such suit unless bond, with sufficient surety, be given him to indemnify him against all expenses and costs which he may incur or become liable for by reason thereof. But any person interested may bring such suit at his own costs in the officer's name.

Code 1950, § 8-426; 1977, c. 617.

No officer of any city, town, county or constitutional officer or employee of any such city, town, county or constitutional office shall, directly or indirectly, bid on or purchase effects sold under a writ by such officer. Anyone violating this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Code 1950, § 8-427; 1975, c. 84; 1977, c. 617; 1988, c. 674.

An officer receiving money under this chapter shall make return thereof forthwith to the court or the clerk's office of the court in which the judgment is entered. For failing to do so, the officer shall be liable as if he had acted under an order of such court. After deducting from such money a commission of 10 percent and his necessary expenses and costs, including reasonable fees to sheriff's counsel, he shall pay the net proceeds, and he and his sureties and their representatives shall be liable therefor, in like manner as if the same had been made under a writ of fieri facias on the judgment.

Code 1950, § 8-429; 1977, c. 617; 2004, cc. 198, 211.

Every officer collecting or receiving money to be applied on any execution or other legal process, or on any claim, whether judgment has been rendered thereon or not, shall notify in writing by mail or otherwise, within thirty days after such money is received, the person entitled to receive such money, if known. Any officer failing without good cause to comply with this section within the time prescribed shall be fined not less than twenty dollars nor more than fifty dollars for each offense.

Code 1950, § 8-430; 1977, c. 617.