Virginia

In Virginia the Clerk of the Circuit Court admits the will and qualifies the executor. A
circuit judge is not involved unless something is contested. The executor qualifies —
Virginia's term — and receives a certificate of qualification.

The Commissioner of Accounts

This is the Virginia institution that surprises everyone from elsewhere. Each circuit court
appoints a Commissioner of Accounts — in practice a local lawyer — whose job is to
supervise fiduciaries. The executor answers to the Commissioner, not to a judge, and the
Commissioner reviews and approves every filing:

• An inventory of the estate, due within four months of qualification.
• An annual account each year, and a final account to close.

The Commissioner charges a fee, paid by the estate, scaled to its size. Filings are chased
actively, and a delinquent fiduciary can be summonsed.

Probate tax

Virginia charges a state probate tax of $0.10 per $100 of estate value, on estates over
$15,000, and localities may add their own portion. Confirm current rates with the clerk;
the figures are statutory and the local add-on varies by city and county.

There is no Virginia estate or inheritance tax.

What passes outside

Property held jointly with survivorship, and accounts or policies with a named living
beneficiary, pass outside the estate. Where an estate is small enough, Virginia's small estate
provisions may avoid qualification altogether — worth asking the clerk before qualifying, since
qualifying starts the inventory and accounting clock.

A Virginia will must be in writing and signed by the testator in the presence of two
competent witnesses who are present at the same time and who then sign in the testator's
presence. The testator must be 18 or older, or an emancipated minor.

Holographic wills are valid

Virginia accepts a will wholly in the testator's own handwriting and signed by them, with
no witnesses. It must show real testamentary intent — a letter musing about who should get
what is not a will.

The catch is at probate. A holographic will must be proved by the depositions of two
disinterested people who can identify the deceased's handwriting. Two witnesses to
handwriting, produced years later, is easier than North Carolina's three but harder than
producing a self-proving affidavit you could have signed at the outset.

Self-prove an attested will

Attach a self-proving affidavit before a notary. Virginia clerks handle these routinely and it
removes the need to find anyone afterwards.

Waive what you can

A Virginia will can waive the bond and surety requirement and can excuse the executor from
some filings. Given that the Commissioner of Accounts will be reviewing the inventory and
accounts regardless, the bond waiver in particular is worth including — surety on a
non-resident executor is otherwise a real cost.

Also

• Name an alternate executor, and prefer someone who can deal with a Virginia Commissioner
  of Accounts without booking a flight.
• A surviving spouse has an elective share whatever the will says.
• Review after a marriage, divorce, birth or a move to Virginia.

Yes. A Virginia executor is entitled to reasonable compensation, and it is the
Commissioner of Accounts — not a judge and not the beneficiaries — who decides whether the
figure passes.

The working guideline

Virginia has no statutory percentage. Commissioners across the state apply broadly consistent
guidelines, and the conventional starting point is around 5% of the receipts coming into
the executor's hands, with adjustments for the nature of the assets. Real estate that is simply
transferred rather than sold, and assets that pass without effort, typically attract a reduced
rate or none at all.

Guidelines differ between circuits. Ask your Commissioner's office for their published
schedule before you take anything — they generally publish one, and it is the most reliable
answer available.

What can increase or reduce it

Unusual complexity, litigation, an operating business, or property in several jurisdictions can
justify more. Delay, late accounts, or having a professional do work the executor is charging
for can reduce it.

It is claimed on the account

Compensation is requested in the annual or final account and allowed by the Commissioner. There
is no route to paying yourself first and explaining afterwards — the account will show it and
the Commissioner will ask.

If the will fixes the figure

The will governs where the executor qualifies on those terms.

Tax

Compensation is taxable income; an inheritance is not. With no Virginia estate or
inheritance tax to offset, a family executor who is also a beneficiary is frequently better off
declining the fee.

A Virginia executor is reimbursed from the estate for the reasonable expenses of
administration, separately from compensation. Every one of them will appear on an account
reviewed by the Commissioner of Accounts, so document as you go.

Normally claimable

• Funeral, burial or cremation, the headstone, and a reasonable reception.
• Probate tax, clerk's fees, certified copies of the certificate of qualification, and
  certified death certificates.
• The Commissioner of Accounts' own fees for reviewing the inventory and each account — a
  routine and unavoidable Virginia cost.
• Attorney's fees, and accountant's fees for the final Form 1040 and any Form 1041.
• Appraisals of real property, farmland, timber, vehicles, firearms and collections.
• Carrying costs on estate property until sale: insurance, property tax, utilities, security,
  maintenance, lawn care and snow removal.
• Cleaning, clearing, storing, moving and shipping contents.
• Travel on estate business at a reasonable rate.
• Surety bond premiums, where the will did not waive bond — a significant cost for a
  non-resident executor.

Normally not claimable

• The executor's lost wages, meals near home, or personal spending.
• Costs incurred for one beneficiary's convenience rather than the estate's.
• Improvements beyond preparing a property for sale as it stands.
• Anything without a receipt.

The rule that decides it

Open an estate bank account and run every payment through it. Virginia's
inventory-and-annual-account structure means an independent lawyer reads your figures every
year. Executors who keep a running ledger find the accounts almost write themselves;
those who do not end up paying an attorney to reconstruct them.

Most Virginia estates are administered by a family member who retains a lawyer to deal with the
Commissioner of Accounts. A bank trust department or an attorney serving as executor earns
its cost in particular circumstances.

Consider a professional when

• The named executor lives out of state. This is the strongest Virginia case. A non-resident
  executor must generally appoint a resident agent and will usually have to post surety on
  the bond, which is expensive — and the annual accounting obligation to a local Commissioner
  is hard to satisfy from elsewhere.
• The estate holds a farm, timberland, an operating business, or rental property.
• There is conflict among the beneficiaries, or a will contest looks likely.
• A beneficiary is a minor or incapacitated, so a trust runs for years and the accounts
  continue for as long as it does.
• The estate is large enough for federal estate tax, which is the only death tax Virginia
  estates face.
• The deceased held property in more than one state, requiring ancillary administration.

What it costs

Corporate fiduciaries charge a negotiated percentage, broadly in line with Commissioners'
guidelines, usually with a minimum annual fee. Attorneys generally bill hourly. Ask for either
in writing — and remember the Commissioner's fees come on top whichever route you take.

Middle ground

Appoint a family member, waive bond and surety in the will, and let them retain a Virginia
attorney at the estate's expense to prepare the inventory and accounts. Because the accounts
recur annually until the estate closes, an executor who cannot keep up creates a compounding
problem — which is an argument for either closing promptly or getting help early.

A named executor who does not want the job can decline before qualifying.