---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Small Estate Act; funeral expenses and disposition, refusal to pay or deliver small asset."
description: "Virginia Small Estate Act; funeral expenses and disposition, refusal to pay or deliver small asset."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 870"
citation: "Virginia SB 870 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cosgrove"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-01-02"
last_action: "2023-03-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/14e575df-360a-42a5-be87-0bc991bb7bf2"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+SB870"
source_hash: "8124825ce5b1a310908522cc804ca1d2197b8b3bced2305ef25e7c43291db40e"
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 SB 870 (2023) — Virginia Small Estate Act; funeral expenses and disposition, refusal to pay or deliver small asset.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0414** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0414)
2. **Committee substitute printed 23104750D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB870S1)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102082D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB870)
4. **SB870ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB870ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice (19-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (37-Y 1-N 1-A) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology with substitute (12-Y 1-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Cosgrove — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-02** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102082D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-02** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-11** Impact statement from DPB (SB870)
- **2023-01-18** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2023-01-18** Reported from General Laws and Technology with substitute (12-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-18** Committee substitute printed 23104750D-S1 `substitution`
- **2023-01-20** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2023-01-23** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-01-23** Reading of substitute waived
- **2023-01-23** Committee substitute agreed to 23104750D-S1 `substitution`
- **2023-01-23** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB870S1 `substitution`
- **2023-01-24** Read third time and passed Senate (37-Y 1-N 1-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-01-28** Impact statement from DPB (SB870S1)
- **2023-02-09** Placed on Calendar
- **2023-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-02-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-13** Reported from Courts of Justice (19-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-15** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-16** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-21** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-02-21** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB870ER) `passage`
- **2023-02-21** Impact statement from DPB (SB870ER)
- **2023-02-21** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-02-24** Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-03-02** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 2, 2023 `enrolled`
- **2023-03-02** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 27, 2023 `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-23** Approved by Governor-Chapter 414 (effective 7/1/23) `executive-signature`
- **2023-03-23** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0414)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/14e575df-360a-42a5-be87-0bc991bb7bf2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).