---
type: "Bill"
title: "Tenancy; severance by the entireties by written instrument."
description: "Clarifies that a husband and wife may own real or personal property as tenants by the entirety for as long as they are married. The bill provides that, in order to sever a tenancy by the entireties by written instrument, the instrument must be a deed that is signed by both spouses as grantors of the property. This bill is in response to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 2050"
citation: "Virginia HB 2050 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Property and Conveyances"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Les R. Adams"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 18
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-02-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5005e011-e512-48ac-a920-9265f7e5bd91"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB2050"
source_hash: "1ccdcf709b2b4fb41b3ae9fb1645963dfc542f5eb1f4ca5e56bf56f8efb2e7ed"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 2050 (2017) — Tenancy; severance by the entireties by written instrument.

Clarifies that a husband and wife may own real or personal property as tenants by the entirety for as long as they are married. The bill provides that, in order to sever a tenancy by the entireties by written instrument, the instrument must be a deed that is signed by both spouses as grantors of the property. This bill is in response to

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0038)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0038)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2050ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2050ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100722D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2050)
4. **House: Printed as engrossed 17100722D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2050E)

## Votes

- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment — **9–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment — **21–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Les R. Adams — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100722D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-16** Assigned Courts sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-25** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-25** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-01-25** Engrossed by House as amended HB2050E
- **2017-01-25** Printed as engrossed 17100722D-E
- **2017-01-26** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-01-27** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-01-27** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-08** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-10** Enrolled
- **2017-02-10** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-13** Signed by President
- **2017-02-13** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/13/17
- **2017-02-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 20, 2017
- **2017-02-17** Approved by Governor-Chapter 38 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5005e011-e512-48ac-a920-9265f7e5bd91`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).