Wills, Trusts and Estates (Annual Survey of Virginia Law, 2009-2010)

The 2010 Session of the General Assembly enacted wills, trusts, and estates legislation (i) adopting the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, (ii) passing emergency legislation for the construction of tax-oriented wills and trusts of persons who die during 2010 with documents drafted prior thereto, (iii) revising the small-estate statutes, and (iv) clarifying the burial power of attorney. In addition, there were six other enactments, and seven opinions from the Supreme Court of Virginia during the one-year period ending June 1, 2010 that present issues of interest in this area. This article reports on all of these legislative and judicial developments, along with a Supreme Court of Virginia case decided ten days after the normal cutoff date for the Annual Survey of Virginia Law because it addresses an issue of significant interest to the bar-the retroactivity of Virginia\u27s 2007 dispensation statute