§ 8.01-499.Officer receiving money to make return thereof and pay net proceeds; commission, etc.

Collecting money is not the end of an officer’s job under this chapter — accounting for it is. Section 8.01-499 requires an officer who receives money under this chapter to make return of it forthwith to the court, or the clerk’s office of the court, where the underlying judgment was entered. An officer who drags out that reporting duty does not escape consequences: failing to make prompt return exposes the officer to liability as if the officer had been acting under a direct court order all along.

Before paying anyone, the officer gets to deduct compensation for the work involved: a ten percent commission, plus necessary expenses and costs, which can include reasonable fees paid to the sheriff’s own counsel. Once those deductions are made, the officer pays out the net proceeds to whoever is entitled to them. The officer, along with the officer’s sureties and their representatives, remains liable for that money in the same way as if it had come in through an ordinary writ of fieri facias on the judgment.