Legal duty; action for damages for legal malpractice concerning estate planning.
Summary
Legal duty; action for damages for legal malpractice concerning estate planning; third parties to an attorney-client contract. Provides that an attorney does not owe a legal duty to a person other than the client for the purpose of the client's estate planning, including the provision of legal advice or the preparation of legal documents, unless the client and attorney enter into a signed, written agreement expressly allowing for such. The bill provides that its provisions are declarative of existing law. The bill also repeals the provisions under current law that specify the statute of limitations for legal malpractice actions relating to contracts for legal services concerning estate planning and the tolling of such statute of limitations. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference and is identical to HB 2174.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Feb 2025
House of Delegates Passage
Feb 2025
Signed into Law
Mar 2025
Introduced Jan 7, 2025
Signed Mar 24, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons
What changed between versions
Enrolled
→
Chaptered
·
2 edits
MINOR
This bill formalizes the enacted version of SB 1115 into Chapter 467 of the 2025 Virginia Acts of Assembly, approved on March 24, 2025. The substantive legal content remains unchanged from the enrolled version, with the primary modifications being formatting adjustments, removal of session headers, and addition of chapter information. The law establishes rules for legal malpractice claims in estate planning cases, including when claims accrue, who can file them, and applicable statutes of limitations.
TECHNICAL
Formatting and structural changes: Removed 'Enrolled' session headers and added 'Chapter 467' designation with approval date of March 24, 2025.
Text reformatting: Adjusted line breaks and spacing throughout the document to match official chapter formatting standards.
Floor votes · Senate Jan 17, 2025 · House of Delegates Feb 10, 2025
How they voted
40–0
Passed
Total votes 40
Jan 17, 2025
D
Democratic21
100% Yea
R
Republican19
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
25
Key actions
9
Committee
4
Mar 24, 2025
Signed into law
Approved by Governor-Chapter 467 (Effective 07/01/25)
executive
Feb 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
Signed by President
upper
Feb 11, 2025
Lower · Passed
Signed by Speaker
lower
Feb 11, 2025
Upper · Passed
Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1115ER)
upper
Feb 10, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed House (95-Y 0-N)
lower
Feb 5, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N)
lower
Feb 5, 2025
Committee
Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
lower
Jan 21, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N)
upper
Jan 17, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed by for the day
upper
Jan 15, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N)
upper
Jan 7, 2025
Committee
Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Glen Sturtevant
RRepublican
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