Senate Bill No. 618
(By Senator Sprouse)
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[Introduced March 26, 2001; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article one, chapter thirty-six of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-two,
relating to passing of legal title to real or personal
property when no heirs are found.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one, chapter thirty-six of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-two, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. CREATION OF ESTATES GENERALLY.
§36-1-22. Clearing and passing of legal title, even though heirs
not determined.
Whenever, by reason of any conveyance by written instrument or
by will, the title to real or personal property is held by one
person who is unable to determine, after a diligent and reasonable title search covering a period of at least sixty years has been
made in the office of the clerk of the county commission in which
the real or personal property is situate, any heirs, beneficiaries
or other persons who have any interest in the real or personal
property, mentioned or described in the instrument or will, and the
person named as grantee in the written instrument certifies by
affidavit that he or she or someone acting on his or her
behalf has
performed a reasonable and diligent search of the title to the real
or personal property without being able to determine the existence
or identities of any heirs, beneficiaries or other persons who have
any interest in the real or personal property, the title to the
estate or interest which he or she
had as described in the written
instrument or will shall pass to and be legally considered to be
in the person named as grantee in the written instrument or will.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
provide for the passing
of legal title to real or personal property when no heirs are found
following a title search of the property.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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