republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-1605.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Partition of property; in partition actions the court shall order an appraisal of property."
description: "Partition of property. Incorporates major provisions of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. The bill provides that in partition actions the court shall order an appraisal to determine fair market value of the property, unless the parties have agreed to the value of the property or to another valuation method. The bill also provides factors to be considered by the court when making an allotment of the property when there is a dispute among the parties. The bill further provides that if the court orders a sale of property in a partition action, the sale shall be conducted on the open market, unless the court finds that a sale by sealed bids or at auction would be more economically advantageous to the parties as a group. The bill outlines the procedure for such open-market sale. This bill is identical to SB 553."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 1605"
citation: "Virginia HB 1605 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Patrick A. Hope"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 22
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-16"
last_action: "2020-03-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/84216204-7777-411c-90f3-e07b9fb33f03"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB1605"
source_hash: "2ef88c9be6b86ec5825c91ef28abca6722cc4c8065a0faa7d63f1ae77dc1ba65"
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 1605 (2020) — Partition of property; in partition actions the court shall order an appraisal of property.

Partition of property. Incorporates major provisions of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. The bill provides that in partition actions the court shall order an appraisal to determine fair market value of the property, unless the parties have agreed to the value of the property or to another valuation method. The bill also provides factors to be considered by the court when making an allotment of the property when there is a dispute among the parties. The bill further provides that if the court orders a sale of property in a partition action, the sale shall be conducted on the open market, unless the court finds that a sale by sealed bids or at auction would be more economically advantageous to the parties as a group. The bill outlines the procedure for such open-market sale. This bill is identical to SB 553.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0115)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0115)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1605ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1605)
3. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1605ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1605ER)

## Votes

- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary (11-Y 0-N) — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N) — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (19-Y 0-N) — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Patrick A. Hope — primary (person)
- Michael J. Webert — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-16** Presented and ordered printed 20105499D `introduction`
- **2020-01-16** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-29** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-31** Reported from Courts of Justice (19-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-05** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-06** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-06** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-07** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-12** Reported from Judiciary (11-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Passed by for the day
- **2020-02-18** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-18** Passed Senate (38-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-20** Enrolled
- **2020-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-21** Signed by President
- **2020-02-25** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 25, 2020
- **2020-02-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 3, 2020
- **2020-03-03** Approved by Governor-Chapter 115 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/84216204-7777-411c-90f3-e07b9fb33f03`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).