A. No execution shall be issued and no action brought on a judgment, including a judgment in favor of the Commonwealth and a judgment rendered in another state or country, after 20 years from the date of such judgment or domestication of such judgment, unless the period is extended as provided in this section.
B. The limitation prescribed in subsection A may be extended by the recordation of a certificate in the form provided in subsection H prior to the expiration of the limitation period prescribed herein in the clerk's office in which such judgment lien is recorded and executed by either the judgment lien creditor or by his duly authorized attorney-in-fact or agent. Recordation of the certificate shall extend the limitations of the right to enforce such judgment lien for 10 years from the date of the recordation of the certificate. A judgment creditor may record one additional extension by recording another certificate in the form provided in subsection H prior to the expiration of the original 10-year extension of the limitation period, which shall extend the limitations of the right to enforce such judgment lien for 10 years from the date of recordation of the second certificate. The clerk of the court shall index the certificate in both names in the index of the judgment lien book and give reference to the book and page in which the original lien is recorded. This extension procedure is subject to the exception that if the action is against a personal representative of a decedent, the motion shall be within two years from the date of his qualification, the extension may be for only two years from the time of the recordation of the certificate, and there may be only one such extension.
C. No suit shall be brought to enforce the lien of any judgment, including judgments in favor of the Commonwealth, upon which the right to issue an execution or bring an action is barred by other subsections of this section, nor shall any suit be brought to enforce the lien of any judgment against the lands which have been conveyed by the judgment debtor to a grantee for value, unless the same be brought within 10 years from the due recordation of the deed from such judgment debtor to such grantee and unless a notice of lis pendens shall have been recorded in the manner provided by § 8.01-268 before the expiration of such 10-year period.
D. In computing the time, any time during which the right to sue out execution on the judgment is suspended by the terms thereof, or by legal process, shall be omitted. Sections 8.01-230 et seq., 8.01-247 and 8.01-256 shall apply to the right to bring such action in like manner as to any right.
E. The provisions of this section apply to judgments obtained after June 29, 1948, and to judgments obtained prior to such date which are not then barred by the statute of limitations, but nothing herein shall have the effect of reducing the time for enforcement of any judgment the limitation upon which has been extended prior to such date by compliance with the provisions of law theretofore in effect.
F. This section shall not be construed to impair the right of subrogation to which any person may become entitled while the lien is in force, provided he institutes proceedings to enforce such right within five years after the same accrued, nor shall the lien of a judgment be impaired by the recovery of another judgment thereon, or by a forthcoming bond taken on an execution thereon, such bond having the force of a judgment.
G. Limitations on enforcement of judgments entered in the general district courts shall be governed by § 16.1-94.1, unless an abstract of such judgment is docketed in the judgment book of a circuit court. Upon the docketing of such judgment, the limitation for the enforcement of a district court judgment is the same as for a judgment of the circuit court.
H. Any extension of the limitations of the right to enforce a judgment shall conform substantially with the following form:
CERTIFICATE OF EXTENSION OF LIMITATION OF RIGHT TO ENFORCE JUDGMENT LIEN
Place of Record ___________________________________________________________________________
Date Judgment Docketed ___________________________________________________________________________
Judgment Lien Book __________________ Book Page ___________________________________________________________________________
Name of Creditor(s) ___________________________________________________________________________
Address of Creditor(s) ___________________________________________________________________________
Phone number of Creditors(s)(if available) ___________________________________________________________________________
Name of Debtor(s) ___________________________________________________________________________
I/we, the judgment lien creditor(s), do hereby certify that the aforementioned judgment lien be extended 10 years from the date of my/our endorsement upon this certificate.
Judgment Creditor/Attorney-in-Fact/Agent: ___________________________________________________________________________
Commonwealth of Virginia
County/City of ____________________
Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by
_______________, this ____ day of ________, 20 ___
My Commission expires: ____________________
Notary Public: ____________________
Code 1950, §§ 8-393, 8-394, 8-396, 8-397; 1956, c. 512; 1958, c. 221; 1960, c. 274; 1977, c. 617; 1983, c. 499; 2002, c. 394; 2005, cc. 139, 203; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 486.