§ 8.01-242.Same; when no maturity date is given; credit line deeds of trust.
Chapter 4. Limitations of Actions · Article 2. Limitations on Recovery of Realty and Enforcement of Certain Liens Relating · Last amended 1999 · Last verified July 16, 2026
In one sentenceSection 8.01-242 sets a twenty-year enforcement deadline (extendable the same way as § 8.01-241) for deeds of trust, mortgages, or liens that fix no maturity date, but gives credit line deeds of trust under § 55.1-318 a forty-year deadline instead, with a one-year exclusion for a party’s death in both cases.
Full Text of § 8.01-242
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No deed of trust or mortgage given to secure the payment of money, other than credit line deeds of trust described in § 55.1-318, and no lien reserved to secure the payment of unpaid purchase money, in which no date is fixed for the maturity of the debt secured by such deed of trust, mortgage, or lien, shall be enforced after twenty years from the date of the deed of trust, mortgage, or other lien; provided that the period of one year from the death of any party in interest shall be excluded from the computation of time, and provided further that the limitation may be extended by recordation of a certificate within the twenty-year period in the manner set forth in § 8.01-241. No credit line deed of trust described in § 55.1-318 in which no date is fixed for the maturity of the debt secured thereby shall be enforced
after forty years from the date of the credit line deed of trust; provided that the period of one year from the death of any party in interest shall be excluded from the computation of time.
Plain-English Summary
Section 8.01-241 measures its ten-year enforcement deadline from a stated maturity date. Section 8.01-242 covers the gap that leaves: deeds of trust, mortgages, and unpaid-purchase-money liens that never fix a maturity date for the secured debt at all. For those instruments, other than credit line deeds of trust described in § 55.1-318, enforcement is barred twenty years after the date of the deed of trust, mortgage, or other lien itself, with the same one-year exclusion for a party’s death that appears in § 8.01-241, and the same ability to extend the period by recording a certificate within the twenty years, following the procedure set out in § 8.01-241.
Credit line deeds of trust get separate, more generous treatment because they secure revolving debt that can fluctuate over decades rather than a single fixed obligation. A credit line deed of trust under § 55.1-318 that fixes no maturity date cannot be enforced after forty years from the date of the instrument, again excluding one year following the death of any party in interest from the computation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can a deed of trust be enforced if it names no maturity date for the debt?
Twenty years from the date of the deed of trust, mortgage, or lien itself, under Section 8.01-242, unless it is a credit line deed of trust described in § 55.1-318.
How is a credit line deed of trust with no stated maturity date treated differently?
It gets a forty-year enforcement period from the date of the credit line deed of trust, rather than the twenty years that applies to other undated instruments.
Can the twenty-year period under this section be extended?
Yes. The section allows extension by recording a certificate within the twenty-year period, in the manner set forth in § 8.01-241.
Is any time excluded from computing the twenty-year or forty-year periods?
Yes, in both cases the period of one year from the death of any party in interest is excluded from the computation of time.
Why does Virginia treat instruments with no maturity date differently from those in § 8.01-241?
Because § 8.01-241’s ten-year rule is measured from a stated maturity date, Section 8.01-242 supplies a substitute rule, measured instead from the date of the instrument, for deeds of trust, mortgages, and liens that never fix a maturity date at all.
Amendment History
Code 1950, § 8-12; 1977, c. 617; 1994, c. 547; 1999, c. 788.
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Code of Virginia, published by the
Code of Virginia, Virginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems. Last verified July 16, 2026.
· Official source
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