Code of Virginia: Property Rights of Married Women (Va. Code § 55-35 Repealed and Replaced)

Virginia’s former statute on the property rights of married women, Va. Code § 55-35, guaranteed that a married woman could acquire, hold, use, control, and dispose of property as if she were unmarried. This provision was repealed in 2019 and replaced with the current Property Rights of Married Persons statute, Va. Code § 55.1-200 et seq. The revised law extends the same rights to all married persons, regardless of gender. It affirms that each spouse retains full ownership and control of their property, free from liability for the debts of the other, and may contract, sue, or be sued as if unmarried. The updated framework ensures that real estate, rents, profits, and other property interests of one spouse are not subject to involuntary claims arising solely from the obligations of the other, thereby modernizing and broadening protections once limited in scope to married women.