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---
type: "Bill"
title: "Persons with legitimate interest; parent whose rights have previously been terminated, custody, etc."
description: "Party with legitimate interest; parent whose rights have previously been terminated. Allows a parent whose rights previously have been terminated to be considered a party with a legitimate interest for the purposes of filing a custody or visitation petition, provided that the child whose custody or visitation is at issue (i) is at least 14 years of age, (ii) has had a permanency goal previously achieved by adoption, (iii) has had his adoptive parents die or each of such child's adoptive parents has permanently been relieved of custody of such child and each adoptive parent has had his parental rights terminated, and (iv) is in the custody of a local board of social services, and provided that the parent whose rights had previously been terminated has (a) complied with the terms of any written post-adoption contact and communication agreement entered into and (b) maintained a positive, continuous relationship with the child since termination. Under current law, a party with a legitimate interest does not include any person whose parental rights have been terminated by court order, either voluntarily or involuntarily."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 1854"
citation: "Virginia HB 1854 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jonathan \"Jed\" Arnold"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2025-01-06"
last_action: "2025-03-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dd98951e-c8b4-4ec2-ba3b-17b00b1976f9"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/HB1854"
source_hash: "da265ae4f0e603b43cd09e616d12a981e2b6be08f781afef9015beaeaadd6229"
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 1854 (2025) — Persons with legitimate interest; parent whose rights have previously been terminated, custody, etc.
Party with legitimate interest; parent whose rights have previously been terminated. Allows a parent whose rights previously have been terminated to be considered a party with a legitimate interest for the purposes of filing a custody or visitation petition, provided that the child whose custody or visitation is at issue (i) is at least 14 years of age, (ii) has had a permanency goal previously achieved by adoption, (iii) has had his adoptive parents die or each of such child's adoptive parents has permanently been relieved of custody of such child and each adoptive parent has had his parental rights terminated, and (iv) is in the custody of a local board of social services, and provided that the parent whose rights had previously been terminated has (a) complied with the terms of any written post-adoption contact and communication agreement entered into and (b) maintained a positive, continuous relationship with the child since termination. Under current law, a party with a legitimate interest does not include any person whose parental rights have been terminated by court order, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
## Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1013507.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1071438.PDF)
3. **Courts of Justice Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1024008.PDF)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1057228.PDF)
## Votes
- Read third time and passed House (96-Y 0-N) — **960** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) — **150** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 1-N) — **71** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (36-Y 0-N) — **360** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (30-Y 9-N) — **390** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (21-Y 1-N) — **211** (pass) · lower
## Sponsors
- Jonathan "Jed" Arnold — primary (person)
- Ian T. Lovejoy — cosponsor (person)
## Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
- **2025-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-13-2025 25102024D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-01-06** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-17** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-19** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1854)
- **2025-01-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 1-N) `substitution`
- **2025-01-24** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (21-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-24** Committee substitute printed 25105463D-H1 `substitution`
- **2025-01-25** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1854)
- **2025-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2025-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2025-01-29** Courts of Justice Substitute agreed to
- **2025-01-29** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2025-01-30** Read third time and passed House (96-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2025-01-31** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-12** Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-14** Rules suspended
- **2025-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (36-Y 0-N)
- **2025-02-14** Passed by for the day
- **2025-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2025-02-17** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2025-02-19** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-02-19** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1854ER) `passage`
- **2025-02-19** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1854)
- **2025-02-19** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-02-22** Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-03-03** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 3, 2025 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-19** Approved by Governor-Chapter 143 (Effective 07/01/25) `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-19** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0143)
## Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dd98951e-c8b4-4ec2-ba3b-17b00b1976f9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).