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![handle is hein.sag/sagva0136 and id is 1 raw text is:
COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
Office of the Attorney General
Mark R. Herring 900 East Main Street
Attorney General Richmond, Virginia 23219
804-786-207]
February 19, 2016 FAX 804-786-1991
Virginia Relay Services
The Honorable John T. Frey 800-828-1120
7-1-1
Clerk, Circuit Court of Fairfax County
4110 Chain Bridge Road
Fairfax, Virginia 22030-4048
Dear Mr. Frey:
I am responding to your request for an official advisory Opinion in accordance with § 2.2-505 of
the Code of Virginia.
Issues Presented
You ask several questions concerning service of a confessed judgment on a nonresident debtor
under § 8.01-438 of the Code of Virginia. First, you ask whether service is sufficient if the officer serving
process in the foreign jurisdiction returns the service as Posted. You also ask whether a return of
service marked by the officer as Not Found is sufficient.
Finally, you ask whether service is sufficient if the clerk mails a copy of the order by registered or
certified mail to a nonresident judgment debtor at his last known post-office address and then files a
certificate with the case papers showing that such has been done, but the registered or certified mail
receipt is not returned to the clerk by the post office, or is returned stating not accepted or not at this
address.
Applicable Law and Discussion
Section 8.01-432 authorizes the practice of judgment by confession. The statute provides that a
debtor or his attorney-in-fact may confess a judgment, regardless of whether a suit has been brought on
the debt:
Any person being indebted to another person, or any attorney-in-fact pursuant to a power
of attorney, may at any time confess judgment in the clerk's office of any circuit court in
this Commonwealth, whether a suit, motion or action be pending therefor or not, for only
such principal and interest as his creditor may be willing to accept a judgment for, which
judgment, when so confessed, shall be forthwith entered of record by the clerk in whose
office it is confessed, in the proper order book of his court. Such judgment shall be as
final and as binding as though confessed in open court or rendered by the court, subject to
the control of the court in the clerk's office of which the same shall have been
confessed.ll
VA. CODE ANN. § 8.01-432 (2015). See also § 8.01-431 (2015) (authorizing confession of judgment by debtor
in a pending suit). The Code of Virginia regulates how lenders may incorporate confessed judgment provisions in](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagva0136&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)