republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-306.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Wills and estates; claims to exempt property and allowances."
description: "Wills and estates; claims to exempt property and allowances; title to real estate of a bona fide purchaser. Directs that any election to take a family allowance, exempt property, or homestead allowance be made one year after the (i) time of admission of a decedent's will to probate or (ii) qualification of an administrator of the decedent's intestate estate, whichever is later. Current law requires such election of exempt property or allowances to be made within one year of the decedent's death. The bill also provides that the title to real estate of a bona fide purchaser acquired without notice of such election shall not be affected by such election unless such election is recorded in the appropriate circuit court clerk's office within one year after the decedent's death."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 306"
citation: "Virginia HB 306 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Karen R. \"Kacey\" Carnegie"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 28
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-09"
last_action: "2026-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/69a0f6eb-3f59-405e-aeed-7f6f7e278171"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB306"
source_hash: "58cb1c3e871e389cec7120ef81fbf53c095d4d3460591a4b1c8a7eaa94d06dc2"
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 306 (2026) — Wills and estates; claims to exempt property and allowances.

Wills and estates; claims to exempt property and allowances; title to real estate of a bona fide purchaser. Directs that any election to take a family allowance, exempt property, or homestead allowance be made one year after the (i) time of admission of a decedent's will to probate or (ii) qualification of an administrator of the decedent's intestate estate, whichever is later. Current law requires such election of exempt property or allowances to be made within one year of the decedent's death. The bill also provides that the title to real estate of a bona fide purchaser acquired without notice of such election shall not be affected by such election unless such election is recorded in the appropriate circuit court clerk's office within one year after the decedent's death.

## 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/1083788.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217750.PDF)
3. **Civil Subcommittee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1096812.PDF)
4. **Courts of Justice Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1100109.PDF)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1210671.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegie — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103487D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-22** Assigned HCJ sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-26** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-01-26** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (10-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2026-01-28** Committee substitute printed 26106133D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-01-28** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (19-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-02** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-02** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-02-02** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-03** Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-04** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-05** Reported from Courts of Justice (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-09** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-09** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-09** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-10** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-10** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-30** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB306ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-31** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 381 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0381)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/69a0f6eb-3f59-405e-aeed-7f6f7e278171`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).